B


ristol has long been a trend-setting place. So, it is not surprising that the Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA) would find something award-worthy among the city’s recent residential projects. And they have found it in Corten Courtyard House. This L-shaped building has transformed a derelict piece of brownfield land to create a new home for Jane Krivine, who was searching for a permanent home near her daughter, Sophie, partner and new grandson, in the now- trendy St Werburghs district of the city. But even she was surprised just how close she would find herself to her daughter, after choosing to take on a long-derelict piece of waste ground next door to create what would turn out to be an award-winning home. Jane lived abroad at the time and liked to visit at least


four or five times a year, but her long term plan was to move to Bristol.


“Sophie lives in the last house in an Edwardian


row, and next to it there was a triangle of land, surrounded by a high wall and hardly big enough for a house, never mind a house and garden, but it was up for sale.” Despite these challenges, she was immediately intrigued by its possibilities, pondering whether “maybe, with the right architect, something could be done.” The site had held a car body shop, but it had been derelict for decades, and its outside walls were covered in graffiti. “The entrance in the wall was wide enough to drive a car through,” she says, “or perhaps in Edwardian times, a cart or a carriage.”


Despite being a self-build first-timer, Jane wasn’t daunted, partly because her daughter


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