CHILDREN will get to play in an ‘upside down’ house at a housing development.

St Edward, a subsidiary of the Berkeley Group, is set to create a ‘House of Colour’ at Reading’s lakeside development Green Park Village. Following a nationwide competition in conjunction with the Architects’ Journal and weatherboarding specialists James Hardie, the leading developer is set to install a new playhouse designed by winning practice Alma-nac. The House of Colour competition invited UK-based architects to create concept designs for a children’s playhouse, with a brief to showcase future colour trends in residential design.

Will Hurst, managing editor, Architects Journal said: “We had a superb response to this competition from both established and up-and-coming practices. While imagination and design flair were key elements of the competition, there were also practical issues to be tackled, given the real build project on the horizon.”

The entries were narrowed down to a shortlist of six, with the judges concluding that the design presented by Alma-nac entitled ‘Upside Down House’ was the outright winner.

The competition judging panel included prominent British architect Will Alsop, who said of the winning design: “The Upside Down House is a clear idea which reflects the open-ended nature of play and will really attract kids. The architect has considered colour, the technical aspects of the build and the landscape. It’s a whole play area, not just a playhouse.’ The Upside Down House is a playhouse that references some of the surreal worlds created in children’s stories such as Alice in Wonderland and the Pixar film Up.