The Apple House, designed by Okra, stands as a groundbreaking example of sustainable architecture and community wellness, transforming a previously neglected orchard in Serge Hill, Hertfordshire into an innovative education and wellbeing center. This 150-square-meter facility combines cutting-edge natural building materials with thoughtful design to create a space that connects people with nature while promoting environmental stewardship and mental health.
The project emerged from the Orchard Project, which began in 2017 under the leadership of Sue and Tom Stuart-Smith as a synthesis of their professional research. Their initiative was founded on the understanding that working with nature can dramatically transform people's health and wellbeing, while community inclusion can be fostered through gardening and other creative activities. The building now serves as a year-round community program hub, providing professional and public participation opportunities in horticulture and environmental stewardship for local schools, youth groups, mental health charities, residents, and designers.
Architecturally, the Apple House showcases an innovative blend of materials and construction techniques. The structure features a spruce glulam portal frame designed by Structure Workshop, connected by birch plywood sheathing that expresses the individual bays of the portal frame while eliminating the need for a ridge beam or purlins. The glulam columns are divided by lime-plastered cast hempcrete walls, which simultaneously provide structural stability, insulation, and wall finish. Throughout the building, visible finishes serve dual roles as both aesthetic elements and structural components.
The building's design maximizes its connection to the surrounding landscape through large openings that link multifunctional spaces to different areas of the site. These openings frame a woodland to the south, a vegetable garden to the east, and an extensive plant library to the west, creating multiple axes of engagement with the natural environment. This thoughtful orientation ensures that occupants maintain visual and physical connections to various aspects of the cultivated landscape throughout their experience in the building.
Construction challenges were significant due to the site's location within Metropolitan Green Belt land in St Albans City and District, which created substantial planning constraints. Collaboration with the local community proved critical in providing evidence of the project's necessity and helped demonstrate the very special circumstances required to overturn existing policy and gain planning permission. The project required extensive community support to justify the development in this protected area.
The building incorporates numerous innovative material choices that reflect the project's environmental values. Working with natural materials expert Will Stanwix, Okra explored the use of unfired clay stock building blocks, typically used for walling and manufactured by local brickmaker HG Matthews. The team established a low-cost earthen floor by cutting these bricks in half and sealing them with a custom pigmented linseed oil, which retained the warm natural tones of the clay while providing a durable surface.
Perhaps most notably, the exterior features cleft oak cladding sourced from overcrowded oak trees within 500 meters of the site. These trees were felled and cut by chainsaw to lengths that enabled them to be processed entirely by hand, creating a resourceful, low-carbon, and aesthetically pleasing material choice. The wavy, irregular quality of this hand-processed cladding creates visual interest while providing habitat for wildlife, including the barbastelle bat, one of the UK's rarest and most threatened bat species.
Interior design elements were carefully selected to complement the building's sustainable ethos. Ben Stuart-Smith, co-founder of Okra, chose Dask Timber for large-format sliders, pivot doors, and fixed glazing panels with customized details in various timber species. Despite requiring more maintenance, timber glazing was preferred over aluminum due to its lower embodied carbon, natural insulating properties, and significantly lower cost compared to metal equivalents at the required sizes. For furniture, the team worked with Jones Neville to create ash table tops and trestle legs, while stackable chairs made from reclaimed plywood were sourced from Merchant & Found.
The project's financial details reflect its commitment to sustainable construction methods. With construction beginning in November 2022 and completion in May 2024, the total construction cost reached $700,000, equivalent to approximately $4,600 per square meter. The main contractor was Slabside Construction, with Gordon Clark serving as project manager and Okra as principal designer. Tom Stuart-Smith Studio handled landscape architecture duties, while Structure Workshop provided structural engineering services.
The Apple House represents a successful model for integrating environmental education, community engagement, and sustainable building practices. By transforming an underutilized orchard into a thriving community resource, the project demonstrates how architecture can serve as a catalyst for both environmental restoration and social wellbeing. The building's innovative use of natural materials, from hemp-based concrete to hand-processed local timber, showcases possibilities for reducing construction's environmental impact while creating spaces that actively contribute to human health and ecological diversity.
