Archdaily has published the winners of the 2020 House of the Year. Take a look at the three projects we selected

The house with a wood façade by the Portuguese architectural firm REM’A won in the «Best use of material»> category. The main idea of the project — the connection between public and private space in the available terrain by creating voids and courtyards — exogenous or endogenous zones. For the common areas of the house, niches have been created that extend the living space when the doors are fully open. Part of the façade is covered in thermo wood, creating a reference to nest. The main trim materials are concrete and wood.

The Parasite House by El Sindicato Arquitectura of Ecuador was chosen as the best small architecture project. It is only 12 m²sized and on the roof of an existing building.

The parasitic house —is a search for the possible minimum that satisfies the basic needs of housing, and an attempt to create an optimal living space in accordance with the owner's activities. The shape of the front is A-shaped, thanks to the large windows the natural light goes through the north facade. Interior walls and floors —OSB, exterior walls and roof —steel panels, 12-cm insulation gap filled with coconut fiber. Steel foundations are used to attach to the slab of the existing building, to which all utilities are also connected.

The main goal of the project —is to compact the city with minimum economic investment and maximum preservation of architectural heritage.

The project by Polish bureau Wrzeszcz Architekci, an Old Brick New House on the outskirts of Poznan, has not progressed beyond the shortlist, but deserves attention. Using the idea of recycling, the architects breathed new life into the very shape of the building and used materials from the dismantled old barn again. The masonry relief is a characteristic feature that adds lightness and elegance to the house. The authors of the project balanced the simplicity of the form of the house with a sculptural component of the brick pattern. The façade consists of four types of masonry with varying degrees of transparency, which blurs the line between the interior and exterior.

We ve already given examples of volume masonry on the façade.

Architectural magazine ArchDaily has presented the Building of the Year award every year for the past 11 years. Readers choose their own best projects in several categories from among the thousands of homes published by the magazine each year.