Specifiers Journal 2015-2016

HOUSING
Faire Chaolais
Morar, West Scotland
The site is located three miles South
of Mallaig, overlooking the White
Sands of Morar, with the Small Isles
of Rum, Eigg, Muck, and Canna as a
scenic backdrop. Two traffic arteries
in the middle distance, the West
Highland Railway and the Road to
the Isles, follow the contours of the
coast, leaving the sloped site confined
between the two, in both position
and datum. The endeavour of making
the area accessible has left its traces,
as excess excavations have been
dumped on adjacent land, now mostly
overgrown by dense vegetation and
trees which form the foreground of
the plot.
To address the site conditions, the
holiday house consists of two stacked
volumes with perpendicular focal
points. The cantilevered first floor
establishes a distinct connection to the
distant scenery, while the ground floor
below creates a focused view of the
fabric of the immediate site.
In order to found the dwelling on the
site’s natural soil, the ground floor has
been sunk at entrance level. This gives
the dwelling the appearance of a single
storey volume when approached from
the site’s narrow access track. Two
84 SPECIFICATION JOURNAL 2015-2016
long external retaining walls, at either
side of the fully glazed eaves, mould
the surrounding ground to slope
gently towards the building, making
the sites luscious vegetation the focus
for the bedrooms.
On the first floor, that comprises all
public spaces, the position of the
openings is reversed. The eaves are
fully closed, pushing the visitors view
towards the far reaching scenery.
This creates a contradiction: by
eliminating the boundary between
private bedrooms and site, the lower
floor becomes a public space, while
privatising the upper floor with
dominant boundaries, the far reaching
landscape becomes an inherent part
of the public spaces.
The exterior of the building is
treated with the same principle. A
building with a dual pitched roof
is an universally understood rural
typology. This building is stripped of
it’s stereotypical attributes and the
first floor is displayed on the recessed
ground floor plinth, allowing the
vernacular form itself to become the
only focus. As a result, the question
of the building’s use remains
unanswered to onlookers, with the
contrast between artificial and natural
further emphasised as the dense
vegetation reclaims the site.
The building is protected by a timber
rain screen. With down pipes and
gutters eliminated, rainwater runs
controlled as a curtain set back from
the bedroom windows. The amount of
light entering the building through the
glazed walls and roof lights, acts to
keep the atmosphere of the building
diverse, with the outside becoming
more dominant the darker the inside
is kept.
All walls, both inside and outside, are
white washed and continue past the