While it can be assumed that when a client employs an architect the money is well spent, this project demonstrates that, no matter what the budget, the designer brings added value.

The project is not so much a house as a pavilion. It illustrates the dictum that the machine is a home for living in.

All the concerns of a well-tempered environment as a secure haven are addressed and all the devices needed to be a well-heeled citizen of the C21 seamlessly integrated into a splendid piece of architecture.

With the electronically removable glass façade to the north one has the uninterrupted panorama of the world’s largest man-made forest as a work of art to view across a gymnastically poised spill-over pool. The drama of the rolling thunderstorms is allowed to envelop the space through the device of a skylight across the back wall, which, with the dramatic slide-away roof also becomes a climatic device in winter to gather the warmth of the sun.

The Award for Excellence is conferred on the Westcliff Estate, a project that demonstrates a high degree of technical resolution, functional integration and design innovation.