Designed around the concept of a traditional English garden this contemporary new build dwelling perches it’s self on top of a garden wall creating a private space to live within. Located just south of Cambridge, this self-build home, uses traditional architectural principles with a modern house design to create a spacious open plan living with emphasise on connecting to the garden.

The design follows the idea of a traditional ‘walled garden’ wrapping around the site and the building to define various outdoor living spaces and courtyards that connect to the house. Additional accommodation units are then inserted on top, behind and within the ‘garden wall’ to create the house enclosures. The ‘garden wall’ then reinforces the difference between the public and private space, creating an open welcoming entrance and a secure and private back garden divided by the house.

The house form is a traditional pitched roof which ties into the surrounding site context as is the garage. The pool is conceived as a garden pavilion and has a flat roof to reduce any impact on the neighbouring building. The design enables a flexible house with open plan living that opens to the newly orientated rear garden, improving the quality of the internal spaces and wellbeing of the occupants.