DRUMMOND HOUSE (THE SHED) // PERTH AND KINROSS


Drummond House

PROFILE

Architect:
Client:  
Location:
Type:   
Description:




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LJRH Architects
Private client
Balmacron, Meigle, Perthshire
Single house
The raw and beautiful agricultural landscape of Meigle is the setting for this purpose-built home. The house is designed as a contemporary barn with an undulating roof that responds to the gently rolling landscape.
RIBA Award 2009
Scottish Design Awards 2009 – Residential Award
DIA Awards 2009 – Supreme Award and Best Residence Award
LJRH
scottisharchitecture.com
e-architect
Studio International

  Working with the
Landscape 
  Respect the landscape setting
  and the traditional building
  patterns of the locality

  Responding to the
Site 
  Consider the immediate context  
  and allow specific site conditions
  to influence design

  How to
be inspired 
  Inspirational ideas for
  sustainable, creative
  and innovative design
  • The site originally consisted of two simple storage barns. Buildings of this type are a well-known rural typology and it is the manipulation of this typology which forms the key conceptual idea for these buildings.
  • The proposal was neither to 'suburbanise' nor 'modernise' the existing setting, rather to extend and amplify its inherent agricultural qualities by the use of  familiar forms and building techniques.
  • The ridge of the main house climbs towards the more dominant aspect and the use of a steel frame allows a significant cantilever at the south west corner. This both emphasises the presence of the zinc roof and captures an external sitting space.
  • An earthen palette of materials was chosen to harmonise with the colour of the soil, in the ploughed fields, surrounding the barns and Zinc was selected to reflect the changing colours of the sky.
  • Floor to ceiling glazing engages the changing landscape directly with the living spaces. This is in stark contrast to the ‘attic rooms’ which are by contrast deliberately introvert, private and more contained.
  • The resulting building can easily be mistaken as a conversion of an existing barn until closer inspection reveals its modernity.
  • Internally the ground floor is
    a carefully articulated modern open plan allowing a variety of spaces to be created from a family room/kitchen to a
    small snug to a double height formal living room. Openness and privacy are equally possible without compromising the sense of space and connection with the landscape.
  • Spaces are carefully situated and designed to maximise daylight and passive solar heat gains. This careful design, in combination with discrete solar panels, helps to significantly reduce the energy demand of the house.

 

 

 

Page updated: Wednesday, March 07, 2012