An architectural "Rubik's cube" in the heart of Edinburgh's New Town has won the title of House of the Year.

The unique house, designed and built by its owner, the leading architect Richard Murphy, has won the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year for 2016.

The Murphy House, which has already won awards, is a rare modern house built on a small plot in the centre of the World Heritage Site.

Murphy, 61, designed the house for himself on the plot, only 11m by 6m, but it contains three bedrooms and bathrooms, a lounge and kitchen and study, as well as a roof terrace inspired by a Venetian garden and the designs of Italian architect Carlo Scarpa.

The winner of the award was announced on Grand Designs on Channel 4 last night, and its presenter, Kevin McLeod, visited the experimental home in Edinburgh recently.

The house is unusual: it has shutters on internal pulleys and uses mirrors to create the illusion of much internal space, it also has a "disappearing corner", a stone panel which opens from the main bedroom.

Mr Murphy, designer of the DCA in Dundee, the Maggie's Centre in Edinburgh and other buildings, said: "It is nice to win, especially as there was a lot of difficulty getting this project going.

"It's very interesting in being your own client: the positives are that you can try out new ideas on yourself, which you cannot really try on a client, technical ideas or slightly eccentric ideas, which is interesting.

"I didn't look at the amount of time it was taking, we would have lost a fortune if it was a commercial operation, but I took it as an opportunity to say something about what the practice is about for the last 25 years.

"An architect is not going to build a house and be quiet about it - so it becomes an opportunity to show off, in the best possible way.

"You can stand accused of over-egging a small project, and I plead guilty to that, I put a lot of ideas into it."

He added: "The negative is that it is very hard to make your mind up about anything.

"I am 61 and I am not going to build another one, so I suppose because designing a house is 101 different but related design problems, the thing you are very conscious of is that what you don't want to do is build a house, wake up one morning and think: bloody hell, why didn't I think of that?

"It's incredibly tightly designed, its been described as a Rubik's Cube, if you move one little element just three or four inches it starts having a knock on effect all around the house. "

Mr Murphy added: "I think it is fun. I often find it hard to go to work in the morning, because I just like hanging out here."