Approaching retirement, the Client wished for a smaller house that properly accommodated and displayed certain pieces of oriental furniture. Rather than placing them awkwardly in various rooms, a top lit route through the house acts as a gallery for these items, off which all the other spaces are placed. Entering the house from the North, the route runs South along which the house opens up to reveal its post and beam structure, and opens out to the site and the garden beyond. Externally the house is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional single storey cottages found locally, internally the simplicity of both the Scottish vernacular and the Oriental is fused to reflect the context and content.
Formally, two ‘cottages’ are brought either side of, and thus defining, the route. A rendered blockwork cladding, incorporating full height glass and timber openings, encloses the spaces under the ‘cottage’ roofs, a steel eaves section acts as a coping, conceals the gutter and unifies the composition, bringing the two roofs and corridor together.
Internally the plywood sheets commonly used to brace the timber frame structure are exposed along the corridor, and are carefully detailed to create a panelled affect.
The house shows what can be done with common building techniques (in this case timber frame or stick construction) when designed and detailed with imagination and care, neither of which need cost a great deal more.
