Green House

Client: Tom van Schelven and Amandine Neyses

: Rebuild London (Main Contractor), Andrew Lucas (Structural Engineer), Eurban (CLT Engineer and Contractor)

Green House is located on a small back lane in the Clyde Circus Conservation Area of Tottenham, originally an access road to market garden orchards and greenhouses. A small area of re-wilded woodland opposite the house remains.

The concept for Green House draws on the green history of the site and the verdant gardens and woodland surrounding the plot, providing a contemporary re-imagining of a domestic greenhouse, blurring the boundaries between inside and outside spaces and re-instating the site’s historically verdant character. The owners were keen to maximise living space for their growing family as far as possible on a limited budget. The simple ‘block’ form of the house was chosen both for its material and constructional efficiencies, as well as providing an efficient form factor. The house is designed to be low carbon both in construction and use. The cross-laminated timber (CLT) frame holds 39 tonnes of sequestered carbon and the house is fossil-fuel free, heated by an air-source heat pump, whilst solar panels mounted on the roof assist with the house’s electricity needs. Fabric-first and passive design principles have been applied throughout; a south-facing planted façade with sliding external screens assists in shading, cooling and supporting biodiversity and a riad-style central atrium maximises natural daylighting and enables passive cooling via stack-effect ventilation. Green House provides a prototype that could be replicated on other restricted sites or built as ‘green terraces’ as it does not rely on side windows, providing bright, comfortable, flexible and sustainable family homes.