Dezeen Magazine

RIBA House of the Year: House Lessans by McGonigle McGrath

This week, the UK's best new house was revealed and the MPavilion opened in Australia

This week on Dezeen, a rural house in Northern Ireland by McGonigle McGrath was named as the RIBA House of the Year, and Glenn Murcutt's MPavilion was unveiled in Melbourne.

On Wednesday, House Lessans was revealed as the 2019 winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) House of the Year prize, chosen from a shortlist of seven architect-designed homes in the UK.

The dwelling, which McGonigle McGrath built on the site of an old farmstead in County Down, was referred to by RIBA president Alan Jones as "a dream home" executed with "incredible clarity and restraint".

MPavilion 2019 by Glenn Murcutt in Melbourne, Australia
Glenn Murcutt unveils minimal MPavilion topped with linear "lantern" roof

This week also saw the opening of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Glenn Murcutt's minimal MPavilion, which will be installed in Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, until March.

Murcutt, who was chosen as the sixth designer for the annual commission in February, designed the pavilion with a pared-back, linear form and slender roof that glows like a "lantern".

Inheriting Wetness at Sharjah Architecture Triennial by Marina Tabassum
Sharjah's 1970s and '80s architecture is being saved by the architecture triennial

In the United Arab Emirates, Dezeen attended Dubai Design Week and the inaugural Sharjah Architecture Triennial.

At Dubai Design Week, visitors were kept cool with wind towers made by MAS Architecture Studio, and T Sakhi redefined the wall as a hub for social connection.

Meanwhile, Sharjah Architecture Triennial opened within two surviving 1970s and '80s buildings, with highlights including architect Marina Tabassum's installation of three prefabricated Bangladeshi homes.

New photos of 1,000 Trees by Heatherwick Studio near completion in China
Heatherwick Studio reveals 1,000 Trees nearing completion in Shanghai

Heatherwick Studio hit the headlines as it updated details for the Pier 55 park in New York's Hudson River, and released new images of 1,000 Trees as it nears completion in Shanghai.

Elsewhere in Shanghai, David Chipperfield completed the West Bund Museum, which is arranged like a pinwheel and contains the Centre Pompidou's first Chinese outpost.

Ted Cullinan passes away aged 88
RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner Ted Cullinan dies aged 88

Other architecture news this week included UK architects forming a grassroots trade union to challenge the industry's "toxic culture", and the death of RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner Ted Cullinan at the age of 88.

Ted Cullinan, the "inspirational founder" of Cullinan Studio, was best known for his design of the Weald and Downland Gridshell that was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2002.

The Met Spring 2020 Exhibition theme: About Time: Fashion and Duration
The Met's Costume Institute announces time-travelling theme for Spring 2020 exhibition

In the design world, Space10 announced that it is opening a second research lab in south Delhi that will offer rapid prototyping facilities for local and international designers.

The Met's Costume Institute revealed that its major fashion exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2020 will explore the nature of time, and be designed by Es Devlin.

Setting fire to artworks in the desert "creates atmospheric pollution" says Burning Man festival
Setting fire to artworks in the desert "creates atmospheric pollution" says Burning Man festival

Sustainability was brought into focus as Dezeen reported on Burning Man festival's plan to become carbon negative by 2030, after its curators acknowledged the environmental impact of the event, famed for setting fire to art in the desert.

Prada became the first luxury brand to sign a loan tied to sustainability targets, which will include the evaluation of its physical stores and employee training hours.

Hopkins House is a high-tech home for two of the pioneers of the movement
Hopkins House is a high-tech home for two of the pioneers of the movement

Dezeen also continued its high-tech architecture series this week, looking at Michael and Patty Hopkins' self-designed house in London.

We also spotlighted Norman Foster – high-tech architecture's international figurehead – and four key projects by his former studio Team 4, which he led with Wendy Cheesman, Richard Rogers and Su Brumwell.

The Potato Shed by Julius Taminiau Architects
Cowshed in the Netherlands rebuilt as a timber-clad family home

Other projects that readers enjoyed this week included a cowshed in the Netherlands that has been rebuilt as a timber-clad family home, a Brazilian house with a dark exterior and contrasting bright interiors and conceptual prefab homes on stilts that could be moved from place to place.