The dream of a house in the country is often constrained by the many building regulations that exist. On this site in the north-east of Hamburg, for example, a single-storey development was stipulated, and the rules governing the space between buildings would have meant a very small living area. A solution was found by applying a subtle design strategem. The architects sank the house and the terrace into the ground to a depth of half a storey, so that from the outside, the two-floor building appears to be lower than it really is. To avoid any sense of living in cramped basement conditions, the white cubic volume seems to float above the garden over a continuous strip of fenestration. The timber structure is borne by steel columns cast into the in-situ concrete base tank.