Tobias Green

When Tobias School of Arts and Therapy moved to largely part time courses, its student hostel became redundant. This and the studio building are the only built work in the UK by the Danish architect Erik Assmussen (1913 – 1998), whose main work is all in Jarna, south of Stockholm. To raise funds to secure it future, the school asked us to convert the hostel into small residential units and later to gain permission to build five three bedroomed houses in a row to complete the overall site development plan. The entire complex is heated by a wood fired boiler, housed in its own communally owned building.

The terrace houses are constructed of 300mm Porotherm clay bocks overclad with mineral fibre insulation and either render or local chestnut. Each house has an integrated solar thermal array to reduce load on the boiler.