Deborah Saunt and David Hills by Rachael Smith

Deborah Saunt and David Hills

Photographs Rachael Smith

Words Rachel Leedham

On a small plot of land squeezed between rows of terraced houses, two architects have created a partially subterranean yet light-filled family home. It took two applications and an appeal for Deborah Saunt and David Hills, who run the architectural practice DSDHA, to achieve permission to build on the site; the resulting building is a 150-square-metre house that is more California than Clapham – flooded with light from large skylights and glazed sliding doors leading to a south-facing terrace. The structure is made of cast concrete, which informs the palette of concrete-grey and white that runs through the house.