Artist Roo Dhissou and UK studio Intervention Architecture have designed Heal, Home, Hmm, a modular pavilion made using Punjabi mud building techniques, which is on display at the V&A as part of the London Design Festival.

Dhissou drew on traditional building techniques when designing the pavilion, set at the bottom of one of the museum’s curved staircases.

Heal, Home, Hmm is on display at the V&A

She believes that going back to these vernacular ways of building could make British homes not just more sustainable but also more resistant to mould, as the porous mud can absorb and release excess moisture from the air.

“It’s moisture in the walls – that’s why we have a lot of mould problems,” Dhissou explained.

“Previously, in many different countries, like India, parts of Africa and even in the UK, we used natural building materials: clay, straw, hemp, wattle and daub,” she continued. “[But] we’ve moved away from those practices to extractive practices.”

It was built using clay from HS2 sites

Dhissou’s Heal, Home, Hmm house, co-designed with Intervention Architecture, was made using local mud sourced from the construction sites of the High Speed Two (HS2) railway in London.

“It’s been rescued and reclaimed,” Dhissou said. “It would have gone to landfill, and we’ve used it to show how you can use natural building materials to build again.”

“It’s more of a proposition, thinking about care, access and healthcare and the building industry.”

The Heal, Home, Hmm house has a wooden frame and panels made from cob. Arched doorways add a decorative touch, while the pavilion’s flat roof can be used as a terrace.

“I used sand, straw, hemp and clay,” Dhissou told Dezeen of constructing the pavilion. “It’s a one-part equal mixture, a cob building.”

The house has wooden archways and cob walls

The inspiration for the design came from the artist’s childhood home.

“I grew up in a house in Punjab that had some cob clay walls left over, though the majority were changed into concrete,” she said. “I really wanted to do something that was inspired by the house that I grew up in.”

However, Dhissou gave the traditional cob material a modern update for her V&A pavilion, which was especially commissioned for the London Design Festival.

“Essentially, [the house] is modular, it’s flat pack,” she explained. “So ancient techniques meet flat pack and modulation in the 21st century, bringing those two design practices together for thinking about ways in which we might live in the future.”

It is on show as part of the London Design Festival

Cob construction has been in the spotlight recently. Earlier this year, we launched our Building with Cob series, which explored how this ancient material is being reinvented for the modern age.

The series looked at how to make cob mainstream and why it’s “not just a Hobbit house” material.

The photography is courtesy of the V&A. 

Heal, Home, Hmm is on show at the V&A for London Design Festival from 13 to 21 September 2025. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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