Hayhurst & Co’s design for Green House draws on the natural history and verdant character of its location. Set on a backland plot in the Clyde Circus Conservation Area in Tottenham, which used to contain small market gardens, orchards and greenhouses, the new house sits opposite a rewilded area dense with trees and birds.

With an internally expressed CLT structure, a light-filled, open layout and a façade planted with bamboo, this unique home blurs boundaries between inside and outside, creating a contemporary, low-energy re-imagining of a domestic scale greenhouse.

Interconnected living spaces and access to nature were priorities for the design. A central double-height atrium connects living spaces across the two floors and brings daylight into the heart of the house. Views out to sky or greenery from all living spaces create a connection to nature, reinforced by the use of planters and exposed timber throughout.

The plot’s existing building was a 1980s house in multiple-occupation self-build that was not viable to retain due to its poor condition and design. It was important to the client and design team that the new house be low carbon both in construction and long-term use.

Materials were selected to be lowcarbon or carbon-sequestering wherever possible. The house is constructed from PEFC-certified CLT. Engineered and installed by EURBAN, the CLT frame is lighter in weight than a traditional masonry structure, reducing the concrete foundations as a result.

The material palette of the house has been kept to a minimum, with all primary structures exposed. Internal doors are notched into the frame and the timber’s end grain has been exposed and growth rings displayed to visually express how the material has grown.

The natural warmth of the CLT walls is complemented by smooth concrete aggregate flooring (over underfloor heating) downstairs and soft recycled cork-rubber for the upstairs floors.

The exterior is clad in Onduline: a utilitarian, low-cost material made from recycled paper mixed with bitumen which is light in weight, providing a corrugated matt finish.

The house is well insulated and fossil-fuel free, heated by an air-source heat pump and with solar panels mounted on the roof to assist with the house’s electricity needs and a water butt which irrigates plants on the front facade.