Des Ewing Architects has taken Single House Building of the Year at the Building and Architect of the Year Awards 2026, earning recognition for a home that demonstrates a strong and assured command of planning, setting, and the rhythms of daily life.

The Irish Countryside Home in Cookstown impressed the judges from the ground up. The circular landform at the heart of the scheme defines a clear and deliberate relationship with the surrounding landscape, anchoring the building to its site in a way that feels both considered and inevitable. The judges described it as "a confident and well resolved home that shows a strong command of planning and setting," a verdict that speaks to the coherence of the design thinking from concept through to delivery. That coherence is rare in rural residential work, where the competing demands of planning, landscape sensitivity, and client brief can pull a design in multiple directions at once.

The project's response to Ireland's climate is equally precise. Covered outdoor spaces, carefully positioned planting, and sheltering elements work together to create a home that acknowledges the realities of rural Irish living without compromising on openness or connection to the landscape. These are not incidental features but integral parts of a design strategy that treats climate as a creative opportunity rather than a constraint. The result is a home that is genuinely comfortable to inhabit across all seasons, offering shelter without enclosure and openness without exposure.

At the centre of the home, both literally and philosophically, sits the kitchen. That placement reflects a clear understanding of how Irish families live, where the kitchen remains the social and cultural heart of the household, and where good design can reinforce and enrich that tradition. Rather than relegating the kitchen to a functional corner of the plan, Des Ewing Architects made it the organising principle of the entire home, a decision that gives the interior a warmth and logic that is immediately felt upon entering.

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