LONDON.- Two subterranean extensions: one to a gamekeeper’s cottage in Gloucestershire, the other to a French orangery, the imaginative linking of a pair of East Sussex oast houses, the latest architect-designed seaside holiday home to let, and two elegant and sustainable new houses in Cornwall make up the shortlist for the RIBA Manser Medal 2012 for the best new house, the UK’s pre-eminent private housing design award.

The houses shortlisted for the 2012 RIBA Manser Medal are:

• The Dune House in Thorpeness, Suffolk by Jarmund Vigsnaes Architects & Mole Architects

• Private house in Gloucestershire by Found Associates

• Private house in East Sussex by Duggan Morris Architects

• Two Passive Solar Gain Houses, Porthadown, Cornwall by Simon Conder Associates

• Maison L, Ile de France by Christian Pottgiesser - Architecture Possibles

The RIBA Manser Medal 2012 shortlist has been chosen from winners of RIBA Awards and RIBA regional awards. The winner will be announced at the RIBA Stirling Prize dinner on 13 October 2012 in Manchester. The winning architect and client will receive trophies designed by the artist Petr Weigl.

Previous winners include Hampstead Lane by Duggan Morris (2011), Acme for Hunsett Mill (2010), Pitman Tozer Architects for The Gap House (2009), Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for Oxley Woods (2008) and Alison Brooks Architects for the Salt House (2007).

This year’s judges include: Michael Manser CBE, architect; Lady Jill Ritblat; and Tony Chapman, Hon FRIBA, RIBA Head of Awards.