Commendation for Best Interior Design
ARTISTRY IN LIVING
60 Onslow Road, Burwood Park, Walton on Thames, Surrey KT12 5AZ
Anyone who saw Channel Four's Grand Design programme by Kevin McCloud on January 28 this year will recall that it was an hour-long free advertisement for the excellent German modular timber post-and-beam construction system that achieved its ambitious - but normal -promise to erect the shell of the house on a concrete slab foundation and make it watertight within five days, and to complete all the wiring, plumbing and decoration in another five weeks.
All this for a fixed price: albeit one fixed in Euros, which had been equivalent to £450,000 when the contract was signed, but which finally cost the buyers an extra £45,000 by the time the house was finished, because the weak pound had slumped against the stronger Euro. If anything is an argument for Britain joining the Euro, this was it - as was the Teutonic efficiency and care of the builders, who brought all the prefabricated parts on a lorry from the Huf Haus factory in Hartenfels and erected it without long tea breaks, loud pop music or disappearing off the site for hours or days at a time.
Followers of these National HomeBuilder Design Awards will know that our judges have long been impressed by Huf Haus (pronounced "Hoof House"). In 2000, Huf Haus won three awards for Best House in England, Best House in Scotland and Best House of the Future. Two years ago, it earned a commendation for a development of nine Huf houses for Wates at Dulwich. Last year it earned another commendation for a one-off house at Goring-on-Thames. This year it has gained a commendation for its interior design.
Every one of these awards and commendations has highlighted something different about a Huf house. For a start it seems very modern, but in fact its post-and-beam construction is one of the oldest building systems in the world. It is a timber-frame system, but one that is light years away from the faux-medieval houses that are still being built in Merrie England. It is highly efficient in terms of its energy consumption and general maintenance costs. It is also highly flexible in terms of its internal planning.
Most of all, however, as this year's commendation demonstrates, its basic design and construction achieves a high level of excellence in interior design without any added effort by lifestyle designers. This is not a house that has to be dressed for show. It is a house that is already well dressed before anyone gets round to furnishing or decorating it.
In this particular case, the beautifully ordered interior design of the house was added to by its owners, David and Greta Iredale. They opted for the standard black and white finish of a Huf house, but specified that all kitchen and bathroom fittings, and all plumbing and electrics would be made and installed by Huf Haus, which has been a family business since 1912.
The Iredales were already living on the site in a house they had built in 1965. Now old and tired - the house, not its owners - they demolished it in May 2003 and had moved to a caravan in the garden when construction began in July. The completed house was handed over to them in September, when they began furnishing and decorating it in their own way, using furniture and treasured items from their former house, as well as works of art - not other artists' work but their own, amateur but competent.
Consider David's portrait of Greta and her cats in the style of Gustav Klimt, or the large Mondrian-style painting in the dining room, which jokingly incorporates two imaginary sloping beams. But also note the classic modern furniture: like all good design, it is timeless.
Homebuilder: HUF HAUS GmbH & CO KG
Muehlenweg 1, D-56244 Hartenfels, Westerwald, Germany
Tel 00 49 2626 7610
Fax 00 49 2626 761103
Website: www.huf-haus.com
Contact: Georg Huf, Director.
Email: huf-dorf@huf-haus.de
Architect: PETER HUF
Tanglewood, Oxshott Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 0ER
Tel 0870 2000 035
Fax 0870 2000 036
Website: www.huf-haus.com
Contact: Peter Huf, Architect.
Email: london@huf-haus.com