This building was winner of the AJ Small Projects Awards 2013 and looks like an industrial gingerbread house! It has pretty rounded shingles and sits behind the reconstructed wall of a former Victorian box factory with mismatched brickwork. Architect Laura Dewe Mathews designed the house for herself and was keen to show that contemporary architecture can be friendly instead of severe and alienating. I love the contrast of the curved cedar scales, thick galvanised steel window surrounds and patched brick wall. Inside the house is just as delightful, with a double-height kitchen and dining room, timber-clad walls and a beautiful resin floor, it really is the stuff of modern-day fairytales.