New House Design in Small Towns and Rural Areas
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New House Design in Small Towns and Rural Areas
Transcript of New House Design in Small Towns and Rural Areas
New House Design in Small Towns and Rural Areas
Pressure for new development is growing, as demand increases; a welcome change in many areas, after years of depopulation. This pressure offers opportunities to achieve good quality housing, which can enhance the rural landscape and natural heritage – if handled appropriately.
Much guidance and policy has been published previously around the theme of rural housing design – both at national and local level. This note is intended to highlight a number of current projects which illustrate what can be achieved, in order to:
• stimulate discussion• encourage excellence • celebrate good practice
Architecture and Design Scotland (A+DS) is the country’s champion of good architecture, design and planning in the built environment. www.ads.org.uk
* Social Focus on Urban Rural Scotland 2003: A Scottish Executive National Statistics publication
30% of Scotland’s population live in settlements of less than 10,000; of which 18% are in those of less than 3,000*
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For those who love the countryside, and Scotland’s many villages and small towns, the design of new housing is a real challenge. Of course, finding new sites – with utilities access and a likelihood of planning permission – can itself be difficult. Design success is all about things that work really well i.e. are functional and robust, but also look good and add value to the environment. Critical issues include:
Siting how the house sits in its settingHouse design good functionalityForm+Character the shapes used and their interrelationshipsMaterials+Details what the house is made of and the care with which it is put together
The Challenge
New development should be considered from the perspective of its impact on wider sustainability. New houses should be located with good linkage to existing communities to encourage wider use of public transport and established facilities. They should be sensitively integrated into settlement patterns and landscapes – taking account of their key features and need for good physical links.
The provision of new roads and services must also be taken into account when designing and placing new homes, as this can often have a disproportionately detrimental effect on the planning of new development. Designers should consider the impact of access, parking and garden ground in new developments to ensure amenity, but from the perspective that generally suburban solutions are not appropriate and appear uncomfortable in rural locations.
Siting
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Are we too fearful of doing anything ‘new’; or too wedded to the generic “child’s eye” view of a house or cottage? Recent experience of applying factory methods of house production, often based on a suburban design model and look, has not been welcomed by many.
However, it is not the production method that is critical: but the design thinking behind it.
In 1994 the producers of “standard” timber kit houses were called upon in the Scottish Office publication “Timber Frame Housing in the Scottish Countryside” to employ skilled designers to take up the challenge of poor design and to tackle poor information in their brochures. Much has been changing in the decade since then, including a general awareness of the value of good design.
House designs should resolve questions such as: creating a welcoming entry (especially in bad weather); how to exploit passive solar gain; where are the best views; where best to put the kitchen; how to address environmental issues; and how best to balance the demands of sensible use, durability and appearance.
The inspiration for new design can come from older forms of building; tackling climate change; using local materials; innovative technology.
The role of the client is critical in driving the level of ambition and showing determination in getting good results.
House Design
House Design
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In 1994, John Richards wrote of Scotland’s rural houses:
“The character of local vernacular varies across Scotland. It is generally based on the dominant influence of load-bearing stone masonry construction. In settlements, and sometimes over a wide area, this often results in consistency in scale, shape, proportions, materials and colour. To a large extent it is based on a tradition, which is reticent in its impact at the level of the individual building, which is orderly and simple in its forms and details, and which sometimes makes references to classical precedents. It hardly ever results in uniformity. The dignity of these houses arises from their fitness for purpose and from the directness and honesty with which their materials were used.
If new houses are to be equally fit for present-day purposes and equally direct and honest in their use of new materials, they will look different to their neighbours. Differences in culture, new lifestyles and new forms of construction lead naturally to developments in house design. These differences may go beyond points of detail. Houses are likely to be bigger than traditional farm-workers cottages, and it can be a mistake to expect them to have similar forms. New methods of construction open up opportunities for economy, freer space planning, and larger openings, but make the copying of some traditional features impractical or inappropriate.
There are many examples of new buildings which interact successfully with their older neighbours without attempting to copy past styles. Even within a group, design unity does not require uniformity. New houses should not normally be expected to look as like old houses as possible, but care should be taken in their design that they do not spoil, but enhance, the public’s enjoyment of neighbouring buildings.”
Scale and overall form should adjust to the setting. Scotland is rightly renowned for the variety of its stunning landscapes, which attract international tourism. Inappropriately designed and sited dwellings can damage the larger sweep of the landscape: different solutions are called for in rugged, open vistas, from smaller irregular valleys, in woodland or adjacent to other buildings.
Form+Character Old and New
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Building performance, materials availability and cost, ease of transportation, energy and environmental performance and impact - all influence the choice of construction method and materials.
Success can be achieved using a wide variety of materials including traditional stone, slate, harling, corrugated iron, and timber cladding: often now used together. Frames in steel and timber provide for flexibility. All materials have their characteristics and have to be handled, in design terms, appropriately.
A clarity of ideas, a thoughtfully selected palette of materials and care putting the building elements together enable the building to perform well at all levels.
In harsh climates, especially with wind-driven rain, the quality of weather proof detailing can be critical. Recent publications on the use of timber cladding have demonstrated how it can be successfully utilised, even in climates as wet as the north western highlands. New houses can be designed to be environmentally benign, healthy and efficient to run.
Detailing doors, roof edges and windows (especially dormers and rooflights); the use of colour... all benefit from careful consideration.
Materials+Details
Materials+Details
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Jack McConnell, First Minister.
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“The quality of Scotland’s built environment is important, not only to our own quality of life, but to the perception of the country abroad as an outstanding place to be.”
Useful contacts
Architecture and Design Scotland(A+DS)Bakehouse Close146 CanongateEdinburgh EH8 [email protected]
Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS)15 Rutland SquareEdinburgh EH1 [email protected]
Rural ScotlandGladstone’s Land (3rd floor)483 LawnmarketEdinburgh EH1 [email protected]
UK Timberframe AssociationHead OfficeThe e-centreCooperage Way Business VillageAlloa FK10 [email protected]
Further reading
Timber Frame Housing in the Scottish Countryside; John Richards Associates, Scottish Office 1994
Investing in Quality: Improving the Design of New Housing in the Scottish Countryside, Scottish Office 1998
Fields of Vision: New Ideas for Rural House Design, RIAS 1991
Scottish Executive Planning Advice Note 44: Fitting New Development into the Landscape, 1994
Scottish Executive Planning Advice Note 72: Housing in the Countryside, 2005
Rural Housing Service55 Newtown Street DunsBerwickshire TD11 [email protected]
Homes for Scotland (HfS)Forsyth House93 George StEdinburgh EH2 [email protected]
Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA)38 York PlaceEdinburgh EH1 [email protected]
Credits and acknowledgements
Project CreditsImage No. Architect - Location[Photographer]
1. studioKAP - Kames [studioKAP]
2. Brennan & Wilson Architects - Ross-shire [Brennan & Wilson Architects]
3. Oliver Chapman Architects - Swinton [Angus Bremner]
4. studioKAP - Fintry [studioKAP]
5. Priestman Architects for Atholl Estates/PHA - Dunkeld [Keith Hunter]
6. Simpson & Brown - Auchnaguie [Glyn Satterley]
7. Gokay Deveci - Rothesay [Raymond Young]
8. studioKAP - Fintry [studioKAP]
9. Michael Gilmour Associates - Fetternear [Mark Chalmers]
10. Simpson & Brown - Struy [Simpson & Brown]
11. Michael Gilmour Associates - Fetternear [Mark Chalmers]
12. Dualchas Building Design - Lochmaddy [Huntley Hedworth]
13. MAST Architects - Inverurie [MAST]
14. Walker Architecture - Chapelhill [Simon Jauncey]
15. Gokay Deveci - Kincardine O’Neil [Gokay Deveci]
16. Simpson & Brown - Mains of Branshogle [Angus Bremner]
17. Gokay Deveci - Loch Eriboll [Lotte Glob]
18. morris and steedman associates - Nethy Bridge [msa]
19. Simpson & Brown - Auchnaguie [Glyn Satterley]
20. Brennan & Wilson Architects - Ross-shire [Brennan & Wilson Architects]
21. MAST Architects - Inverurie [MAST]
22. Arc - Dalguise [Arc]
23. Simpson & Brown - Mains of Branshogle [Simpson & Brown]
24. Gokay Deveci - Rothesay [Andrew Lee Photography]
25. Gokay Deveci - Loch Eriboll [Lotte Glob]
Pamphlet DesignSkratch | www.skratchdesign.co.uk
Project Management and CollationOyster Arts Management | www.oysterarts.co.uk
Exhibition DesignDO Architecture | www.do-architecture.co.ukin partnership with Skratch | www.skratchdesign.co.uk
© A+DS 2006
This pamphlet was produced to accompany the A+DS travelling exhibition ‘30% - New House Design in Small Towns and Rural Areas’, which was launched at ‘Rural Housing/Rural Development - Making Connections’, a conference held by the Rural Housing Service at The Birnam Institute, Dunkeld, Perthshire in February 2006.
30% of Scotland’s population live in settlements of less than 10,000; of which 18% are in those of less than 3,000
Architecture+DesignScotland Bakehouse Close146 CanongateEdinburghEH8 8DD
www.ads.org.uk
