Habitus House of the Year has a whole new freshness in 2024. Thanks to Winnings and Rogerseller, Gold and Silver partners respectively, the annual set of awards recognising some of the finest residential design across the Asia-Pacific region is back with renewed impetus and vigour.
One of the things that makes Winnings x Habitus House of the Year stand out amidst a landscape of seemingly endless design awards programmes is its boutique, highly curated quality. This isn’t a mass-produced awards show churning through countless longlisted entries – instead, the emphasis is on editorial selection. We don’t invite projects for Winnings x Habitus House of the Year; we choose the ones that deserve it.
Timothy Alouani-Roby and Gillian Serisier are digital and print editors respectively, and – with the help of assistant digital editor, Saskia Neacsu – they have surveyed the wide range of residential design projects that have come to their attention over the last couple of years. Home designs come to us all-year round, everywhere from India, China and Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand. The Habitus team of course can’t feature every project, but it’s the editors’ jobs to constantly reflect on the calibre and types of work they see. It’s with this eye that the prestigious shortlist selections are made.
The process makes for a refreshing change to the design awards landscape. Often, large commercial practices have developed a finely tuned competition and awards entry system – they know when, where and how to submit, and they do so with efficiency and efficacy. This is all perfectly good, but what about the emerging designers and those perhaps less inclined or able to perform slick marketing and publicity exercises? Winnings x Habitus House of the Year aims to survey projects from all scales, practices large and small, renowned and less well-known.
Here, we reveal the first five projects to make the Winnings x Habitus House of the Year 2024 shortlist. Three more reveals will follow shortly, making a total of 20. As a brand, Winnings is very keen to support young, emerging designers. This year’s shortlist brings together a varied range, with some newer and small practices taking their place alongside highly renowned practitioners in the design industry. With editorial discretion at its heart, the 2024 competition proudly merges the highest quality with refreshing newness.
Guided by an initially loose distinction between projects that tended more towards architecture or interiors, the editorial team soon refocused this vague binary to more specific and exciting design features as patterns emerged in the wider selection. The relationship between external façade materiality on one hand and, on the other, interior plan and atmosphere was one such evolving emphasis. Some of the most notable works foreground a strong and striking relationship between their outward appearance and their interior character.
So, without further ado, the reveal! The first five projects (in alphabetical order of practice name) are:
1. Terrace House Mirage by ALCAMI ARCHITECTURE
Photography by David Wheeler
2. Apartment in Double Bay II by Architect George
Photography by Pablo Veiga
3. Speargrass House by Arent&Pyke
Photography by Anson Smart
4. Lee House by Candalepas Associates
Photography by Rory Gardiner
5. Wisteria by Carter Williamson Architects
Photography by Pablo Veiga
Keep your eye out for the next reveals, especially on our Instagram. The full shortlist will be announced by 23rd September 2024, with plenty of time for you to cast your vote in the People’s Choice Award – set to be announced in November.