The WORST episodes of Grand Designs: House of the Year
Every episode of Grand Designs: House of the Year ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Grand Designs: House of the Year!
Every year the Royal Institute of British Architects looks for the best new home in Britain, and this time Grand Designs is along for the ride.
#1 - Houses with a Past
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/14/2018
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin visit five more inspiring homes in the running for the 2018 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, including an old Victorian gin distillery in east London transformed into a remarkable modern home, and a turn-of-the-century farmhouse in Devon given new life mixing the traditional with the contemporary. The team also visit a Grade II listed house in Bath, a derelict farmhouse over 400 years old, and a house with a mirrored library at its centre.
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#2 - Homes in the Country
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/21/2017
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and magazine editor Michelle Ogundehin review homes in the country. There's a luxurious tree house in Dorset that shows off the wonder of wood, and an awe-inspiring cantilevered concrete home on the Isle of Purbeck, with floor-to-ceiling glazing. Plus, a property with a cluster of zinc-clad boxes imitating local traditional Scottish farmsteads, and a 17th-century Devon barn that's been sensitively restored for modern living. But which will be shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2017?
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#3 - Country Living
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/4/2015
In the first instalment McCloud visits five architectural glories in the country. One will be instantly familiar to Grand Designs fans, the fabulous house built from four shipping containers in Londonderry. Elsewhere we visit Somerset and the low-energy timber farmhouse built at the foot of a wooded hill, a house that looks like giant wedges of flint, an eco house in Cambridgeshire and a glass-roofed villa.
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#4 - Incredible House Transformations
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/23/2022
Kevin McCloud and the experts visit five homes that have undergone incredible transformations, from a factory reborn to a library hidden within a former cowshed.
#6 - Water
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/14/2017
Kevin McCloud, Damion Burrows, and Michelle Ogundehin look at five more inspiring homes in the running for the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2017. This episode considers homes with a watery connection, including a glamorous, white, curvy, cliff top residence with extensive views over the English Channel.
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#7 - Experimental
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/23/2019
Kevin McCloud visits homes in the running for the 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year. This time, Kevin and his co-presenters, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin, visit five experimental homes competing for a place on the shortlist. The properties include a pioneering home made entirely from cork in Eton, an innovative Derbyshire stone cottage, a bold family home on the South Downs with a vaulted interior, a micro-home built on the site of a double garage in London, and an extraordinary ultra-low-energy house in Buckinghamshire.
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#9 - Country Homes
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/24/2016
In this first episode, Kevin and co profile five amazing country homes on the long-list for the prize: including a large house camouflaged within a hill; a loving restoration in Wiltshire of a prototype modernist retreat; a Scottish home that blends an agricultural exterior with a sleek modern interior; and a slice of spectacular California modernism in Cornwall. Kevin then reveals which of these homes will make it onto the final shortlist.
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#10 - Boundary Pushers
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/1/2016
Kevin, Zac and Damion profile five homes that are testbeds for architectural ideas, pushing the boundaries for residential design: a cool, concealed house built from glass and concrete; an uber-creative Wallace and Gromit-style house in Edinburgh squeezed onto a disused plot; a gorgeous, low-slung modern home in Cumbria camouflaged with stone; an experimental extension in London with a Japanese flavour; and an elegant house in Buckinghamshire that combines sustainability with glamour. Kevin then reveals which one has made it onto the shortlist and is in with a chance of winning House of the Year 2016.
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#11 - House of the Year
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/11/2015
Kevin McCloud explores more inspiring homes in the running for the Riba House of the Year Award, before revealing which one has made it onto the shortlist. He visits a bright orange metal clad residence in the suburbs of Kew, a modernist property built over a river in Belfast, a low budget home constructed around a series of courtyard gardens, and a hidden house that uses vaulted roof lights to illuminate its depths.
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#12 - The Final
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/25/2015
Kevin McCloud visits three more houses competing for a place on the finalist shortlist, including a timber and steel clad home in Dungeness, a pink brick house in Belfast, and an 18th century converted mill in rural Scotland. At the end of the show he announces the overall winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2015, before visiting the house and discovering why it has been crowned the best new home in Britain.
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#13 - Down to Earth
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/6/2019
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin visit five more inspiring homes in the running for the 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, featuring a stylish property in Devon, a cleverly engineered home in London, a self-build eco home on the South Downs, a 21st century manor house in Northamptonshire, and an elegant home in Northern Ireland.
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#14 - Pioneers
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/30/2022
In the pioneering houses category, Kevin McCloud and the experts explore a home that fuses mock-Tudor with industrial chic, and a home with a mountain on the roof.
#15 - House of the Year
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/18/2015
Kevin McCloud reveals five more candidates vying to be crowned Riba House of the Year 2015, including a luxurious city home complete with a basement swimming pool, a concrete an brick open-plan house in Liverpool, and a geometric homestead in Northern Ireland. Plus, a Hollywood-inspired pad in north London, and a modernist villa in north Wales.
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#16 - Materials and Craftsmanship
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/7/2022
Kevin McCloud looks at a meticulously crafted barn conversion and a timber-framed, timber-clad eco home, before the winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2022 is announced.
#17 - Houses That Dare to Be Different
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/7/2018
Kevin McCloud visits homes in the running for the 2018 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, including a magnificent monolithic dark-rendered block in London, a controversial, cutting-edge glass modernist building in Henley, and a north London townhouse filled with Nicaraguan mahogany.
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#19 - The Minimalists and the Winner
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/28/2017
Kevin McCloud reveals the winner of the most prestigious prize for residential architecture, the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2017. But first, Kevin, the architect Damion Burrows and magazine editor Michelle Ogundehin sift the final category from the long list, all of them homes that share a pared-back, minimal look. Properties include a former caretaker's shed in London, and a small but perfectly formed home with oak panelling and sleek polished concrete floors. Last in the series.
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#20 - Space Makers
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/8/2016
Kevin McCloud reveals another five homes vying to be crowned House of the Year 2016. These are houses that create space out of the smallest sites. There's an ultra-stylish one bedroom live/work space with an experimental garden roof; the transformation of a dark mews into a light and airy family home; a beautiful blend of beach living and high architecture in Dungeness; a clever extension in Harrogate; and a narrow beachfront garage that's been made over into a stunning home packed with a large art collection.
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#21 - Local Materials
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/7/2017
Kevin McCloud visits homes in the running for the 2017 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year. He is joined by architect Damion Burrows and Michelle Ogundehin, editor-at-large of Elle Decoration. In this episode, they visit five properties which draw on local materials and traditions, including a 21st-century shepherd's hut in Scotland.
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#22 - The Winner
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/15/2016
Kevin McCloud reveals the winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2016. First though, there are four extraordinary nominated houses to review, all of which offer a creative response to a tricky site. There is a house stitched into a wall that sits between a Zen courtyard and an English walled garden; a clever, open plan family home built in a former allotment; a house made from a group of red tin pods on a piece of urban wasteland; and a large, glamorous home in Northumberland that creatively pulls northern light through the house.
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#23 - Hard-to-Build Houses
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/16/2022
Kevin McCloud explores the homes in the running to win the RIBA House of the Year award 2022, starting with five hard-to-build houses, including a pink beach house.
#25 - The Final
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/13/2019
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin visit the final homes in the running for the 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, featuring a property in London with a sculptured copper roof, a Warwickshire home made entirely from exposed concrete, a perfectly crafted timber wedge hidden in a Devonshire arboretum, a Welsh house covered with locally quarried stone and slate, and a London home built with an incredible attention to detail. Finally, Kevin reveals with this year's winner. Last in the series.
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