A MODERN house built for the actor behind comedy character Mr Bean has scooped a top architecture prize.

Set among rolling hills near Wallingford the home, believed to have been built for Rowan Atkinson, is one of six buildings in the county to win the highly-coveted Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) South East award.

It was designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP with Berman Guedes Stretton.

The winners were drawn from a shortlist of 15 projects, and 40 entries and were announced at a ceremony on Thursday night.

Also scooping a prize was Oxford-based architects Adrian James Architects for its creation of 'Incurvo' – a private house situated alongside the Thames in southern Oxfordshire.

Director Adrian James said the accolade showed how a local firm could 'run with the big dogs.'

He added: "We are of course extremely pleased to have been given this award.

"Today a lot of modern houses are either boxes or barns, and the client wanted to do something different.

"They came to us and we designed for them a house which is an extremely curvy building.

"It is all about flow; flow around the outside and flow around the inside, and the client really bought into the idea."

But it was not just one award the firm walked away with, it also received RIBA's Regional Sustainability Award.

Chairman of the RIBA South jury panel Rupert Cook said: "This year’s RIBA Awards shortlist gave insight into the range of buildings being commissioned and designed, from small to big budget.

"We witnessed exceptional quality creating buildings that will endure.

"There were notable differences between clients’ approaches to the 'building arms race’.

"Rather than join this race, some chose careful budget setting and brief development, which could ensure the creation of the new buildings that were not just about the money, with building’s potential being a lesson in the “economy of means” – taking sustainability to the heart of the brief."

The Warwick Hall Community Centre in Burford by Acanthus Clews Architects, Magdalen College Library in Oxford by Wright & Wright Architects, Barns Road in the city by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and the Berrow Foundation Building at Lincoln College by Stanton Williams also took home the South East award.

Regional award winners will be considered for a RIBA National Award, the results of which will be announced in June.

For more information visit: architecture.com