Crail

The brief asked us to design a new house on a Greenfield site. The house is to function as a home and a base for a farming business. The site is located a half mile east from the village of Crail. Fife. This landscape is unique to Fife, with high levels of daylight and wide horizontal vistas. Boundaries between the sky and sea are blurred. Objects in this landscape enjoy their own space. A dry stone dyke and a simple post and wire fence edge the site.

Our concept was to create a new steading, a grouping of objects in the landscape. These buildings will have a dialogue with each other. Their profiles reflect different functions. A sheltered courtyard space is formed between the buildings, shaped by the offsetting from the boundary geometry.

Crail

Working with a Greenfield plot requires a degree of context making for the building. The setting is influenced by the site characteristics. The wind direction, access, the sun path, views to and from the site. The aspirations to build a sustainable and low carbon project require early design decisions to work in tandem with the technical knowledge to maximize green energy and reduce carbon emission.

There is minimum use of hard landscaping on the site. The courtyard and terrace have recycled cobbles. The ground surrounding the buildings is treated as an extension of the open fields coming into the site. The HA-HA is an unobtrusive landscape technique to prevent wild stock entering the proposed wild meadow garden and reed pond. It is hoped that the wild meadow will encourage bio and eco diversity, with the reed bed filtering wastewater.

Crail

This house has been designed with an aspiration to meet the accreditation standards of Passive Haus. A passive house is an energy-efficient building that has year-round comfort and good indoor climate without the use of active space heating or cooling systems. The only heating within this house is a wood-burning stove in the living room, and towel rails in the bathrooms. The orientation of the building maximizes sunlight and solar gains. Fresh air is supplied by a ventilation system which is powered by the on site renewable energy source.

For more information on Renewable energy, Sustainability and Passive house design: Please refer to the main menu of our web site.

Crail

Credits

Passive Design. Case study A
New House + Steading
Fife, Scotland.
2010-2012

Client: Private
Gross floor Area: 240m²
Architect: GMA
Structural Engineer: N/A
Passive Design Supplier: RTC
CGI: GMA