The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) today announces the shortlist for the Manser Medal, sponsored by The Rooflight Company. The award is given for the best one-off house or major extension designed by an architect in the UK.

A modernist seaside house in Essex and a transformed Victorian semi-detached are both competing for this year's Manser Medal, along with two houses from Northern Ireland. One is an architects' family home, unusually clad all over in a “fibre-cement suit of armour” and the other a reinvention of the Victorian villa for the twenty-first century.

The shortlist was drawn from the RIBA Award-winning buildings which were announced earlier this year in May. The Manser Medal winner will be announced and presented alongside five other special awards, at the RIBA Stirling Prize Dinner on Saturday 6 October at The Roundhouse, London.

The shortlist for the Manser Medal 2007 is:

Dowling House, Cultra, County Down by Hackett + Hall Kander House, London by Jamie Fobert Architects New Dwelling, Randalstown, County Antrim by Alan Jones Architects The Salt House, St Lawrence Bay, Essex by Alison Brooks Architects

The medal is judged by a panel including Michael Manser CBE, former President of the RIBA; Simon Knox of Knox Bhavan Architects, winner of the 2006 Manser Medal and Tony Chapman, RIBA Head of Awards.

Previous winners include Holly Barn by Knox Bhavan Architects (2006), Stealth House by Robert Dye Associates (2005) and The Black House by Mole Architects (2004).

-Ends-

Notes to editors:

The RIBA Stirling Prize in association with The Architects' Journal is the UK's most prestigious architectural prize and is awarded annually to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year. Winners must be RIBA Members and the building may be anywhere in the European Union. The shortlists are drawn from the winners of the 2007 RIBA National and European Awards. The prize is named after the architect Sir James Stirling 1926 – 1992. The winner will receive £20,000.

The winner of the The RIBA Stirling Prize in association with The Architects' Journal will be announced at the Roundhouse in London on Saturday 6 October, televised live on Channel 4 between 8 and 9pm. The 2007 shortlist is: America's Cup Building, Valencia, Spain by David Chipperfield Architects; Casa da Musica, Porto, Portugal by Office for Metropolitan Architecture with Arup-AFA; Dresden Station Redevelopment, Dresden, Germany by Foster + Partners; Museum of Modern Literature, Marbach am Neckar, Germany by David Chipperfield Architects; The Savill Building, Windsor, by Glenn Howells Architects; Young Vic Theatre, London SE1 by Haworth Tompkins.

The 2007 RIBA Stirling Prize jury comprises Tom Bloxham MBE – chair, Urban Splash; Alain de Botton – author and philosopher; Louisa Hutton – architect; Kieran Long – Editor, The Architects' Journal and Sunand Prasad – architect and RIBA President.

Established in 1895, The Architects' Journal has consistently been at the forefront of architectural publishing. Its weekly news coverage, comprehensive building studies and in-depth technical and practice features make it essential reading for the profession, and its incisive commentary makes it a must-read for opinion formers. The AJ is the UK's leading independent architectural magazine, whose authoritative voice has informed generations of architects. For more information on the RIBA Awards visit the AJ website at www.ajplus.co.uk

All RIBA Award winners can be seen at www.architecture.com

The RIBA Awards and RIBA Stirling Prize are managed by the RIBA Trust. The RIBA Trust manages the cultural assets of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), including the internationally recognised collections of the British Architectural Library. It is the UK's national architecture centre, delivering the RIBA Awards and RIBA Stirling Prize (live on Channel 4); the Royal Gold Medal; International and Honorary Fellowships; Architecture Week (with Arts Council England and the Architecture Centre Network); a full programme of lectures, exhibitions, tours and other events; and an education programme.

Full building citations follow:

Dowling House, Cultra, County Down, Northern Ireland

Architect: Hackett + Hall Client: Private Structural engineer: Ennis Gruhn & Co Contractor: Leonard Breen Contract value: £240,000 Date of completion: September 2006 Gross internal area: 278 square metres

Dowling House transforms its suburban location and embodies many of the qualities of both urban and rural houses: the former in its compact modesty, the latter in its complex circulation and delight in site and views.

The architects have carried off an impressive trick of scale. The house, apparently two storeys to the front, is revealed at the back to be three storeys high. A first-floor salon spans the depth of the house and has its own staircase from the hall door.

A perfect match of ambitious and knowledgeable clients and committed and talented architects has resulted in an economical house that intelligently, modestly, reinvents for the twenty-first century many of the virtues of the Victorian villa.

Kander House, London NW3

Client: Private Structural engineer: Elliot Wood Mechanical engineer: Mendick Waring Ltd Contractor: Hom Construction Contract value: £750,000 Date of completion: February 2005 Gross internal area: 265 square metres Kander House is a Victorian semi-detached house that was structurally unsound. It provided an opportunity for the architect to reconsider its habitation and create generous space and volumes.

A winding staircase connects the more traditional bedrooms and bathrooms with the transformed ground floor. The design creates a series of spaces that are linked but allow different functions and moods. The concrete has been beautifully cast, forming the ceiling to the kitchen area before wrapping down outside to form part of the rear wall.

Natural light is maximised through the large glazed doors on either side of the terrace that create a wonderful sense of openness. Natural light also washes through the house via cleverly positioned roof glazing.

New Dwelling, Randalstown, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Architect: Alan Jones Architects Client: Private Contractor: Barnish Construction Ltd Structural engineer: Doran Consulting Contract value: £200,000 Date of completion: October 2005 Gross internal area: 360 square metres

Few buildings in Northern Ireland have attracted such critical attention in recent years as the house Alan Jones designed for his young family. Its neighbours include an Orange Hall, a British Legion memorial garden, a Presbyterian Church and hall, a Masonic Hall and an Anglican Church. With its simple two-storey gable-fronted form, this looks like one more hall.

The normal visual detail associated with houses has been stripped away, reinforcing this ambiguity. The roof and walls are dark, clad all over in a fibre-cement suit of armour. Windows are tall and hooded. Gutters and rainwater pipes are hidden.

The tall ground floor is a vast single volume flooded with south light. Full-height sliding and pivoting doors can subdivide the living spaces.

The Salt House, St Lawrence Bay, Essex

Architect: Alison Brooks Architects Client: John & Margaret Skerritt Contractor: EO Jones + Sons Structural Engineer: Price & Myers Contract Value: £467,000 Date of completion: May 2005 Gross internal area: 270 sq m

The house harks back to a tradition of the first half of the 20th century: the modernist seaside house. But instead of white render, here all is smooth timber. This experimental beach house is breathtaking in the rigour of its design, detailing and execution. The architecture of apparently random distorted forms is in fact underpinned by a convincing logic.

It is a fusion of a series of internal volumes, arranged around a central atrium, blending with the hipped forms of the neighbouring oyster fishermen's cottages. The new forms sit next to its neighbours in a natural and seemingly inevitable way. The whole building is raised above ground level to allow flood waters to pass under the timber decks and the first floor seems to float above the site with no visible means of support, so that it touches the landscape lightly.

For images contact Lorna Gemmell in the RIBA Press Office on 020 7307 3761 or email lorna.gemmell@inst.riba.org