Half Acre Hill
Craobh Haven, Argyll
2008
£300,000
Work in progress ·
This building, high on a wooded hill above the marina at Craobh Haven, seeks to resolve conflicting requirements. On an already slightly over-developed section of coastline we aim to build as discretely as possible while still enjoing its unparalleled views. We also seek to resolve the immediate site’s most interesting aspects – the exposed ground at high level offering the aforementioned views and a secluded woodland glade at the lower level. In its reponse to the immediate landscape, the house works carefully with the form and topography of the site as found to develop an external sense of place and shelter at both levels. Several key trees are influential in establishing this and we are careful to enhance rather than dilute their role. The building is intended to appear “of the ground” with a permanence and solidity reminiscent of the bedrock around it. In contrast to the flimsiness endemic in much current architecture we are working towards something truly rooted in its landscape. Only at its western tip does the house take a lighter touch on the ground, rising and nudging out slightly through the trees, like a bear at the edge of the woods.
Pause
