A striking Caribbean-influenced home in Surrey has become the latest finalist in Grand Designs House of the Year 2025.
Triangle House - celebrated for its playful geometry, immersive colour palette and inventive layout - was revealed as the newest contender in this week’s episode.
Its selection places it firmly among Grand Design's best houses of the year, as Kevin McCloud and the judging panel continue to showcase Britain’s most original new homes.
A Caribbean-inspired home that transforms a tricky plot
Triangle House, shortlisted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), reimagines a once-awkward Surrey plot with a geometric, terracotta-clad extension that folds and angles to make the most of its unusual shape.\
The design draws heavily on Caribbean aesthetics: bright tones, breezy transitions between spaces, and a garden the homeowners lovingly describe as “Club Tropicana.”
Aqua-blue stone columns form the structural rhythm of the extension, giving the house its instantly recognisable look. This expressive approach impressed the RIBA judging panel, who called the project “colourful” and “inventive,” singling out the blue columns as particularly noteworthy.
Inside, Triangle House rejects corridors entirely. Instead, it unfolds room by room in a layout the architects describe as “between open-plan and isolated rooms.” Caribbean houses often favour open layouts for heat reduction, but here the absence of doorways was a creative way to save on extension costs that also lends the home an art-gallery quality.
What makes the achievement even more remarkable is that this is one of the architects’ first major residential projects - yet it has already caught the eye of both RIBA and the Grand Designs judging panel.
What Kevin McCloud and the judges had to say
The house’s Caribbean-infused character continues outdoors, where the garden brims with exotic planting designed to enhance the tropical/Mediterranean garden illusion.
Judge Damion Burrows was captivated the moment he entered, saying: “When you step into the kitchen, it doesn’t disappoint.” He added, “This just makes you happy,” praising the sunny yellow interior theme and the seamless transitions between spaces.
Burrows noted how completely it transforms the experience of the home, saying: “Every single day it transports you to a tropical paradise.”
Host Kevin McCloud was equally charmed by the home’s sense of personality. Responding to the angled canopy and bold colours, he said: “It’s pointing towards adventure, isn’t it? It’s saying come with me, I’m going to take you by the hand and lead you on an exciting journey.”
RIBA judges echoed this sentiment in their, noting that the house “embodies the spirit of the RIBA House of the Year award - inventive, site-specific and delightfully unexpected.”
The finalists so far
Triangle House now joins the first two shortlisted contenders as the competition gathers pace.
From that group, the cliff-hugging Cnoc Na Craoibhe and the technically ambitious Hastings House were the first to secure places in the Grand Final.
With Triangle House added to the line-up, three homes have now been confirmed, with four more still to be named. The next episode will air at 9pm on Wednesday, 3 December on Channel 4 and you can see this week's episode on the Channel 4 website.
