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Old Shed New House, the radical transformation of a farm shed into a sustainable new home designed by Tonkin Liu Architects, has won the 2018 Stephen Lawrence Prize.

The Stephen Lawrence Prize aims to encourage new, experimental architectural talent, celebrating and rewarding projects with a construction budget of less than £1 million. First awarded in 1998 in memory of Stephen Lawrence, who was taking steps to become an architect before his untimely death in 1993, the £5,000 Prize has been sponsored by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation since its inception.

After several years looking for a tranquil site in a rural setting for their retirement property, the homeowners settled on a disused agricultural shed in North Yorkshire and worked with their son, Greg Storrar, as the project architect. The farm shed has been dramatically remodelled into an exquisitely detailed, highly sustainable and cost-effective home. The modest 3-bedroomed property, includes a vast library space at its heart – housing a lifetime’s collection of books – and uses traditional construction techniques and low-cost materials throughout.

Stephen Lawrence Prize founder Marco Goldschmied said:

“This impressive project has brought life back into a redundant agricultural building to create a breath-taking new home. Using sustainable, low-cost materials, Old Shed New House illustrates perfectly what a talented architect can do with a fairly modest budget. The Foundation is delighted to present Tonkin Liu with the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2018.

“In addition, the judges and I would also to give a special mention and an award of £1,000 towards the maintenance of one of the other shortlisted projects, the Bethnal Green Memorial, built in tribute to a little-known World War 2 tragedy. Our congratulations to all those involved the 12-year effort to bring this forgotten London memory to light for future generations.”