James Macdonald Wright and Niall Maxwell’s reimagining of the English country house, “Caring Wood,” has been selected as the 2017 RIBA House of the Year, bestowed annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to the “best new house or house extension designed by an architect in the UK.”
Inspired by the traditional ‘oast houses’ – agricultural buildings used for kilning hops – found in the county of Kent, the house was lauded by the jury for its celebrating of local building crafts and traditions, including the use of handmade peg clay tiles, locally quarried ragstone and coppiced chestnut shingles.
