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Better by design

Trevor Cooper highlights some of the impressive properties shortlisted for this year’s Guernsey Design Awards.

Shuruuq. (30548536)
Shuruuq. (30548536) / Guernsey Press

TODAY is the closing date for voting in the Guernsey Design Awards, which recognise present-day excellence in our bailiwick’s architectural landscape.

The website details are at the end of this piece and I wholeheartedly recommend that anyone with even a vague interest take a look, particularly those aghast and angered at some of the travesties blighting our roadsides in recent years. The awards will reaffirm their faith in the building industry’s integrity by proving that when something is done well, it’s done very well indeed.

Held every two years, the design awards invite entries from a broad spectrum of work and 2022’s panel of judges include professionals from architecture, planning, construction and the arts. Their mission is to honour distinctive, original, inspirational and sustainable design from the 15 finalists.

There are five categories under consideration and, although contemporary architecture is not one, there are outstanding examples of the modern form throughout the shortlisted finalists, including the heritage class, proving that the two styles can live harmoniously under the same roof.

There is also a People’s Choice award, because we all consider ourselves experts, judging by the spring tide of disapproval pulling against the strong current of modern design. Winds of change are causing waves and some landlubbers feel our planning authority is navigating Guernsey’s notorious waters without the proverbial paddle. In many respects I count myself among their number.

Putting aside the unwarranted impact of wanton bulk, contemporary design in general, especially in an island the size and with the parochial character of Guernsey, is best when the contemporary elements are unforced in their vitality and tailored to their setting.

La Ronde Cheminee is one of the finalists in the Guernsey Design Awards that fully embraces this concept. Its organic design blends with the L’Ancresse gorse, bracken and dry-stone walls and is described as a house in a landscape aspiring to be part of the landscape itself. The desire for the building’s sustainability became a passion and the salvaged resources add a cherished provenance.

Similar principles were applied to assimilate Shuruuq with its clifftop landscape. The new house assumes a light touch, tasteful in its modernism and conspicuous in its simplicity. The stone-clad ground floor emerges like a rocky outcrop upon which rest the upper split-levels clad in red cedar. This is where the interior is said to imitate origami-style folds to best reveal the dramatic extent of the panoramic views.

Forest Farm, in contrast, has brought to life an untouched and capacious granite barn near Forest’s south-coast cliffs. The robust essence of the barn remains unspoiled and the minimalist interior has been drawn from a blank canvas with effortless ease. Adding a large timber-feature extension was both a bonus and a challenge met with modernist touches that blend with subtle references to the agricultural heritage of the original building.

The Cottage was another matter altogether, having fallen into severe disrepair. Walls were subsiding and the floors, partitions and roof collapsing. The entire granite structure was underpinned, tanked and insulated and rotted sections removed from the original beams when fitting a highly-insulated roof in accord with the distinctive stone parapets.

Facing The Cottage is an equally attractive stone building renovated with the same ‘obsessive’ attention to detail while harmonised landscaping joins the two together in true chocolate-box fashion.

Happily rubbing shoulders with these giants of craftmanship on the award’s shortlist is a building measuring only 11 square metres. With deceptive simplicity, Shed Quarters is designed to be a functional and versatile space for work, rest and play. Under the guise of a garden shed, these standardised modules are built locally using an insulated timber frame lined in birch plywood and clad to best suit its urban, rural or coastal setting. If further testament were needed, construction costs claim to be less than the five-year cost of an office desk space.

How better to follow that than with a Japanese Fishing Pavilion? This community project, led by the Rotary Club of Guernsey, was funded by many generous supporters who were keen to see the Saumarez Park showpiece restored to its former glory, following its closure due to deterioration. Emphasis was on retaining the original design features while complying with strict health and safety requirements. Consequently, for the first time the structure is easily accessible to all ages and abilities thanks to raised handrails, additional balustrades, surrounding groundworks and step-free access, without detracting from the distinctive essence of the pavilion.

Only for the sake of brevity and not partiality have I mentioned only six properties. In truth it could have been any of the 15 finalists and I encourage everyone to discover more about each of the properties alongside stunning photographs of them by going to www.guernseydesignawards.com and clicking on the entry pdf link.

We will discover who will be walking away with the trophies on 25 March at the Princess Royal Centre for the Performing Arts.

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