Rubber-clad house wins top award

Vista was praised for its wit, elegance, simplicity and rubber skin

A rubber-clad beach house on the Kent coast has won a major architecture prize named in memory of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The Stephen Lawrence Prize sponsored by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation rewards the best building built on a budget of less than £350,000.

Vista, on Dungeness beach, was designed by architect Simon Conder and is covered in a skin similar to a wetsuit.

Judges praised the house for having a "carefully controlled witticism".

'Delightful, tactile house'

Vista was completed in November 2003 and was built as a weekend retreat for two people from London.

The 92 square metre house was built on the site of a 1930s fishing hut.

This is an understated gem of a building akin to a jewellery box RIBA award judges

It sits near Dungeness nuclear power station and is about half a mile from late film-maker Derek Jarman's famous house in the town.

The prize is part of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award scheme.

Judges said: "Vista has been designed with wit, style and a great deal of technical skill and ability.

"This delightful, tactile house is built with extensive use of timber and plywood, and is clad unusually in a skin which is akin to the black rubber used in wetsuits.

Stephen Lawrence wanted to become an architect

"This, the architect explains, is a tremendous material that is both waterproof and breathable, and in its black colour echoes the local tradition of fishermen's shacks with their timber painted with pitch to keep out the formidable elements."

They also praised the building for being "simple, elegant and well-planned", having "meticulous detail" and for "responding to the drama and harshness of the landscape".

A window in the bathroom specially designed to give views of the sea to anyone lying in the bath was singled out for praise.

The judges concluded: "This is an understated gem of a building akin to a jewellery box. The RIBA Awards jury all left smiling."

The award has been presented for the last seven years and is named after Stephen Lawrence, tjhe black teenager stabbed to death in London in 1993.

Stephen's mother Doreen Lawrence and Marco Goldschmied, a former president of RIBA, presented the £5,000 prize to winner Mr Conder at a ceremony on Saturday night.