Landscape Design: Robert Myers Associates
This new house replaces a 1920s house for a family in south Cambridge. The pitched roof forms and materials pick up on the Arts & Crafts influences evident in the existing house and other buildings in the neighbourhood. The whole structure is timber, insulated with wood-fibre externally and lime-rendered, and the roof is insulated with recycled cellulose and re-clad in clay tiles.
The completed house will have triple-glazed windows and has achieved an air-tightness of 0.8 ACH, very close to Passivhaus standard. This vapour-open, breathable construction will work in conjunction with a whole house MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery) system to create even humidity and excellent internal air-quality. At the rear, single storey brick walls project out into the garden, containing a living room and artist’s studio, and creating a sheltered courtyard for outdoor dining.
On the ground floor the flow of spaces has been carefully developed to create connections between them while maintaining a distinct quality to each. Items of joinery, sliding doors and a circular structural column define a loose and changeable order to the spaces and encourage diagonal views through the house out to the garden.
At the front, the area between the house and the road will be covered with gravel and planted as a ‘dry garden’, using plants that require little water, leaving gaps for access and car parking, and avoiding a division of driveway and garden.
Completion is due in September 2024.
