Pen Y Common

by Nidus Architects and Rural Office

Client Private

Award RSAW Welsh Architecture Award 2023, RSAW Welsh Architecture Building of the Year Award 2023 (sponsored by EH Smith), RSAW Welsh Architecture Conservation Award 2023 and RSAW Welsh Architecture Small Project of the Year Award 2023 (sponsored by Gaggenau).  

The brief for this project asked for an extension to a traditional 17th-century Welsh longhouse, located halfway up a remote hillside south of Hay-on-Wye. Having strong emotional ties to this area where they grew up, the client displayed a keen and admirable sense of the responsibility to avoid overdevelopment. This led them to set the design challenge of doubling their home’s footprint without harming the charm and character of the existing cottage and its setting. 

Read the full citation from the RIBA Awards Jury on RIBA Journal.

Contractor Firth Construction Limited 

Structural Engineer RV Williams Structural Engineers 

Gross internal area in m2 100