The Lantern House, in the Calstock boatyard alongside the River Tamar, has elicited a mixed response from locals, but last week architect-owner Anthony Hollow was presented the Cornish Buildings Group's highly-prized award for the year's best new building.
Mr Hollow and his wife Nancy were presented a Delabole slate plaque by the group's chairman, Terry Knight, at a ceremony last Wednesday.
Congratulating the winners, Mr Knight said: 'The judges were taken with the delightful way in which the design exploits the unique quality of the site to the full.'
Mr Hollow said he was very pleased to get the award, particularly because it was a Cornish award. And Mrs Hollow said it meant a lot to her because of the reaction the structure had provoked.
'There has been a lot of misunderstanding about modern building,' she said. 'This structure is ideal for a boatyard, but it wouldn't be ideal in other places.'
Mr Hollow said the awards were not made immediately because of some notable occasions in the past when award-winning structures elsewhere had failed ingloriously.
'They let the building prove itself and allow the landscaping to develop and then decide "Does it sit in its setting happily?",' he said.
The building itself is a feat of engineering, resting as it does on almost 60 ft of mud, that regularly and frequently floods.
Mr Hollow had to sink piles right through to bedrock. A concrete plinth rests on those and the house is built up on stilts set in the plinth.
The house is a very light-weight structure. It has a steel frame, clad in timber and the roof is zinc, a material that has been mined locally.
'I wanted people to be aware of the structure inside and out. In this building you can see all the structure, and there's no wasted space, you have the whole volume of the building,' said Mr Hollow.
But it's the setting that entrances Mrs Hollow: 'It's wonderful being here, I have never seen a kitchen with such a wonderful view and I can't stop looking out at the river with its animal and birdlife.'
The house is up for sale as it is part of the boatyard, which is on the market, but the Hollows are keen to continue living there and would happily rent it back.
The Lantern House is named because of the lighthouse-like first floor office, which has 360 degree views. It is where Mr Hollow has his study.