By Steve Gooding, RMTimes writer.

A well-known house on Dungeness has won the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects Stephen Lawrence prize at a special awards ceremony held yesterday - 17th October. The cedar timber 2-bedroom holiday house, called El Ray, features an 1870’s timber railway carriage at its heart and was designed by Simon Conder Associates.

The well known Dungeness building has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a large living, dining/kitchen area that looks on to the sea. Each bedroom has its own private courtyard; a windbreak and place of shelter.

Marco Goldschmied, founder of the Marco Goldschmied Foundation that funds the prize said "The looming presence of Dungeness power station dominates the surreal landscape. In this windswept setting this small holiday house sits lightly on the shingle.

"Triple glazed, it catches the sea breeze when balmy and deflects it when hostile. Needing no energy from the nuclear monolith next door, it mimics the self-sufficiency of a hermit crab."

Talking about the railway carriage that remains at the centre of the property, he said "Leaving the original 1870’s timber railway carriage at its heart, unmoved since the 1930’s is a stroke of sensitive and humorous genius. It is both mad and perfect."

The Stephen Lawrence Prize was set up in 1998 to draw attention to the Stephen Lawrence Trust to assist young black students to study architecture. The teenager was just setting out on the road to becoming an architect when he was murdered in 1993. In addition to the £5,000 prize money, £5000 goes to fund the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship at the Architectural Association.