Greenview House
A self-build with quiet confidence and wellbeing at its core in Hackney, London.
For the team at Paper House Project, building a remarkable home on a compact urban backland site was an exercise in balancing opportunity with constraint. It was a challenge they accepted when transforming a hidden pocket of land in Hackney into Greenview House: a modern, light-filled, low-energy dwelling.
Located next to Butterfield Green in leafy Stoke Newington, this self-build is home to architect James Davies, his partner Sophie, and their whippet Dylan. It is a quietly confident and considered response to the architectural hurdles of a tight inner-city plot with no direct access. Occupying the footprint of a long-forgotten garage, Greenview House stands mid-terrace in a row of three mews houses.
James explains: “I have an iterative approach to working and enjoy problem solving. This was useful for the project because the defining feature here was the plot size, which, at 40 m², was very small. After the wall build-ups this was reduced to an even smaller 33 m². In small spaces, every aspect of the design has to work hard and either do one thing really well, or multiple things at the same time to justify its inclusion.”
Inside, the home unfolds as a series of interconnected, double-height spaces. Light wells at the front and rear draw daylight deep into the plan, creating strong visual connections across floors. As well as adding visual amenity at basement and ground floor levels, the front light well in particular provides defensible space between the main living area and the shared access route.
A three-metre living green wall brings nature into the ground-floor dining space. On the first floor, there is a discreet outdoor terrace and a large-format picture window framing the park beyond.
Viewed from street level, Greenview House hovers above the boundary wall. More treehouse than townhouse, its blackened timber façade retreats into the tree line. The modest entrance conceals a surprisingly expansive two-bedroom home with oak carpentry used throughout.
Galvanised steel and polished concrete balance the warmth and softness of the timber, adding a utilitarian edge to the interior. Describing the rationale behind the material use, James says: “Concrete is a very tactile, dependable material. In the basement it forms a continuous floor finish throughout the two bedrooms and shower room. Using one material like this makes the space feel bigger but also creates a very physical connection to the house when you enter.”
With a deliberately open floor plan allowing light, volume, and material honesty to take centre stage, the flow of Greenview House feels deceptively voluminous.
Construction on such an awkward plot demanded ingenuity. Cross-laminated timber, or CLT, became the project’s linchpin: more a pragmatic solution than an aesthetic statement. Prefabricated panels were craned into place, allowing the structure to be completed in less than a week and minimising the energy demands of the build process. Along with speed of assembly, the CLT acts as an acoustic buffer, reducing city noise.
A fabric-first approach delivers insulation and airtightness levels far exceeding current UK standards. Triple-glazed windows, solar panels, an air source heat pump, and an MVHR system ensure comfort and efficiency. The numbers are compelling: an EPC rating of 97A, annual carbon emissions of just 0.1 tonnes of CO₂, and primary energy use of 5 kWh/m². These metrics place Greenview House in the top tier of eco-homes within the UK housing landscape.
Speaking about the environmental performance, James says: “During the summer, the house averages approximately two days per week of ‘free’ electricity. Windows can remain closed and the space still enjoys a constant supply of fresh air thanks to the MVHR.”
Wellbeing is embedded in the architecture. Bedrooms sit quietly at basement level, cleverly cocooned from street-level sounds. Living spaces are generous and maintain a continuous relationship with the outdoors through the picture window, terrace, and internal living wall.
Delivered by a multidisciplinary team of trusted contractors, engineers, and consultants, Paper House Project’s approach exemplifies how collaboration and future-proofed thinking can overcome the hurdles of tricky inner-city building projects, where space is a luxurious commodity.
