CUSTOM FIT

A contemporary Huf Haus proved to be the ideal home for David and Greta Iredale to showcase their love of mid-century design

- ANDREW WEAVING

When your beloved family home of nearly four decades is in need of extensive repair, and you have spent four fruitless years unsuccessfully searching for the right plot on which to build something new, how do you finally reach the bold decision to tear down your own home? The answer for David and Greta Iredale was to find a truly sensational replacement.

David and Greta had built their previous home in 1965 in leafy Surrey. The house was perched five feet off the ground, supported on steel stilts. The exterior was clad with diagonal timbers, and the ceilings floated above the walls, supported on a steel frame. The house was completely contemporary perhaps even futuristic - in its conception, construction and visuals. And it was filled with treasured furniture and artworks that the Iredales had amassed over the years. Any replacement for their treasured home was going to have to be something truly spectacular.