Two decades ago, the architect built a groundbreaking green space for living and working. How has ‘the straw bale house’ endured?
“I’m a real believer in trying things,” says the architect Sarah Wigglesworth. “That’s how you learn. Taking risks is really important. I’m interested in the things that give a kind of joy and maybe disrupt things. I am interested in pushing boundaries. Anything that does that is good.”
Wigglesworth – who was appointed MBE in 2004 and became the first woman to receive the Royal Designer for Industry award for architecture in 2012 – is describing herself, but she could easily be talking about how she designed her home in north London. 9/10 Stock Orchard Street is the multi-award-winning live/work space of Wigglesworth and her partner, Jeremy Till. Built 20 years ago, the “straw bale house”, as it was invariably called, instigated a debate about the aesthetics of eco-architecture. “At that time,” Wigglesworth recalls, “the green movement was about dropping out to north Wales or somewhere and building something quite vernacular with your hands. We wanted to make an urbane version of that, in an urban setting.”
There have been two Grand Designs 'revisits' and 9/10 Stock Orchard Street remains 'one of Kevin’s favourites'
Your home should be treated as if it were a part of your body – which in a way, it is … You need to look after it
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