“We did it ourselves and it hasn’t killed us.”

Hairy House is the home of APA directors Jeremy Ashworth and Emma Parkes, a project that began before the conception of the practice. Designed tirelessly over the course of evenings and weekends, difficult planning constraints meant that a sensitive solution needed to be found for the small plot in central Cambridge. Setting out with a level of naivety, a young family and no clear idea of cost the project became an invaluable learning process.

Surrounded by tall garden walls, the house is cantilevered off three concrete piers allowing it to slot as an intricate jigsaw puzzle in between the existing fabric of the street. While the concrete provides thermal mass, the house is highly insulated with sheep’s wool and its intensive green roof minimises the need for heating the upper floor.

By digging down into the ground, a voluminous double height living space could be created, the light from roof lights above filtering down and bouncing off the simple white interior. No space is wasted, the plan is a puzzle of nooks and discrete storage each utilised to its full potential.