Caochan na Creige, a modest yet exceptional house designed by the Scottish Architects Izat Arundell, has won the RIBA House of the Year Award (one of the UK‘s highest awards for residential architecture) in 2025.
Caochan na Creige, meaning in Scottish Gaelic “the little quiet one of the rock,” aptly describes this as home’s essence. Less of an imposition on the landscape than a natural emergence from it, this unassuming home is a thoughtful retreat settled into a natural outcrop of rock in remote west highland Scotland.
A Home Rooted in Place and Craft
The Isle of Harris is located in the rugged Outer Hebrides of Scotland, known for the dramatic weather, elemental landscapes, deep geological roots, and the traditions associated with them; the house nestles against and around a natural Lewisian gneiss rock formation, rising directly from the Hebridean terrain.
The project was designed and hand-built by architects Eilidh Izat and Jack Arundell, founders of Izat Arundell, for their own use as a personal residence. Their self-build reflects both architectural ambition and a hands-on construction approach on a tight budget of around £167,000, executed with the assistance of family and local craftspeople.
An Architect’s Personal Journey
Eilidh Izat and Jack Arundell, founders of Izat Arundell, a young architectural practice, have hand-built their individual home. The project originally began as an ambitious quest to explore new ways of living and working. After establishing their firm in Edinburgh in 2018, the couple sought a site in the Hebrides, “a nice transition from the city,” according to Izat.
The site originally considered in 2020 was to be a large two-story 200 square meter house underwent a dramatic transformation when contractor quotations exceeded their budget. Over Christmas 2021, due to financial constraints, Izat and Arundell made a pivotal decision: they would redesign the project and build it themselves by hand. Instead of limiting their designs, it encouraged them to come up with a more thoughtful design and to create a site-responsive design.
Home Around the Rock
The location of the house is named after and shaped by a major outcrop of Lewisian Gneiss (one of the oldest rocks on Earth) that dominates the site on the Isle of Harris. Rather than resisting this geological feature, the architects embraced it, organising the entire house around the rock formation, which provides natural shelter from the prevailing winds. Through an intuitive design process involving cardboard models moved around the protruding rock, Izat and Arundell discovered the distinctive 135-degree angle that defines the home’s irregular plan. This geometric principle repeats throughout the layout, creating a building that appears to grow organically from the landscape rather than impose itself upon it.
Material Honesty and Local Craft
The house’s material strategy speaks to both environmental necessity and cultural sensitivity. Its timber frame is finished with full thickness blocks of locally sourced Lewisian Gneiss from a quarry located within five miles of the house site. The individual stones were handpicked, placed into the building, and set into place by their friend and stone mason, Dan Macaulay. The stone facade echoes modern construction logic, adds a subtle contemporary texture to the exterior, and maintains material continuity with the site. Cedar cladding marks the entrance porch, mediating between the exposed exterior and protected interior.
Inside, the material palette remains restrained yet richly textured. Warm-toned lime plaster walls complement polished concrete floors embedded with local aggregate. The ceilings are constructed from Scottish larch, warming the inside, and the interior is adorned with a variety of finely crafted beech cabinets and shelves designed and built by Eilidh’s brother, furniture maker Alastair Izat, to create a unique, intimate, and tactile atmosphere, to create balance between simplicity and refined details.
Spatial Generosity Within Compact Footprints
Caochan na Creige has a small footprint of approximately 85 square meters; however, its interior has been described as “compact but generous” by the judges. The centre of the plan consists of a functional core containing an entrance porch, utility space, and a bright skylit bathroom. A bedroom extends slightly to the northwest, while the eastern half opens into a huge living area and kitchen designed as a light-filled space connecting to the landscape.
Every room maintains a distinct character and relationship to context. The living room’s expansive glazing frames views towards the glen and sea, the bedroom’s orientation captures seasonal shifts in light, and the angled kitchen maintains privacy while encouraging connection with the small crofting community surrounding the house.
Recognition by RIBA and the Jury’s Verdict
The decision by the 2025 RIBA House of the Year jury, chaired by architect David Kohn, was unanimous. Kohn noted that Caochan na Creige “addressed every issue – challenging climatic conditions, the relationship to vernacular architecture and a tight budget – with a rare mixture of sensitivity and boldness.”
The judges particularly highlighted how the building, while referencing larger defensive architectural forms appropriate to its exposed location, maintains an intimate domestic scale. Its formal clarity and material strategy demonstrate an approach to contemporary rural housing that prioritises site specificity and long-term performance without resorting to stylistic pastiche. Kohn concluded that the house represents “an exemplary home which will have much to contribute to future debates around domestic architecture in rural contexts.”
As climate change intensifies and conversations about sustainable building practices grow more urgent, Izat Arundell’s Caochan na Creige embodies a contemporary architectural ideal—a home that is authentic, rooted, materially expressive, and crafted with quiet confidence. True innovation often comes not from imposing grand visions but from listening deeply to what a site, a climate, and a community require. Its recognition as RIBA House of the Year 2025 not only celebrated a house, but a way of thinking about and making architecture that feels increasingly essential for our uncertain future.
Reference List-
- Dezeen. (2024). Izat Arundell clads remote Outer Hebrides home with local stone. [online] Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2024/04/03/caochan-na-creige-izat-arundell-remote-outer-hebrides-home/.
- Sayer, J. (2025). Caochan na Creige wins RIBA House of the Year – Architecture Today. [online] Architecture Today – The independent architecture magazine. Available at: https://architecturetoday.co.uk/izat-arundell-caochan-na-creige-riba-house-of-the-year/?
- Riba.org. (2025). Caochan na Creige. [online] Available at: https://www.riba.org/explore/awards/uk-awards/regional-awards/2025/rias-award-winners/caochan-na-creige
- Izatarundell.com. (2023). Project – Caochan na Creige — Izat Arundell. [online] Available at: https://izatarundell.com/Project-Caochan-na-Creige.
- Laskaris, C. (2025). 3 smart small-space lessons from RIBA’s remote Scottish island House of the Year. [online] Country Living. Available at: https://www.countryliving.com/uk/homes-interiors/interiors/a69727500/small-space-lessons-riba-house-of-the-year/
