Linsiadar
Uig, Isle of Lewis
2009
9 month traditional contract in progress ·
A new house on a remote croft in the tiny west coast settlement of Linsiadar, just across Loch Ceann Hulabhig from the ancient stone circle of Calanais. Current buildings on the site include the remains of three former agricultural buildings; long, low stone walls stretching out like fingers to present their gables to the loch. A series of dry-stane dykes interlink these remains. We are seeking to re-inhabit the site in such a way as to regenerate or consolidate the best of its existing characteristics. The new house proposed is seen as a first step in the redevelopment of the site, its robust sculptural form taking the line of the first “finger” and allowing it to better define a garden to the west. The second finger, to be repaired as garage and workshop, serves to then contain the garden and differentiate between this and the small-holding beyond, to be developed within the network of old walls connecting to the third, most westerly finger. The new building engages physically with the ruined shell of the late 18th Century Tacksman’s house, reinhabiting and preserving its footprint with a raised sheltered garden, greenhouse and a tower for study and reflection on the wider landscape.
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