A wooly jumper

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It’s chilly.  We’re thinking about insulation, and looking out of the window at the sheep in the fields, warmly wrapped in their fleeces, sheep’s wool insulation seems like a great idea. 

Being a natural material, there are many advantages to sheep’s wool insulation, as opposed to man made materials, such as glass wool.  It is breathable, helps keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and helps to control humidity levels.  As well as providing a healthy layer around the building for the occupants, it is irritant free during the installation.  

   

 There are lots of websites that provide information about sheep’s wool insulation, and some of them sell it too.  Have a look!

http://www.secondnatureuk.com/

http://www.sustainabilitycentre.co.uk/

http://www.blackmountaininsulation.com/

Architect's Kitchen - White Chocolate Cheesecake

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This is a very simple cheesecake recipe.  We use Green and Black's organic white chocolate and serve it with a fruit coulis.  Blackcurrant or raspberry are especially good.  This pudding is a real treat.

Scottish Housing Expo

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We went to visit the Scottish Housing Expo back in August.  It was fascinating and a day very well spent.  Described as <<The single most important architecture and design event to take place in Scotland over the past decade>> it was great to experience. 

The Expo was the first housing fair dedicated to sustainable living in the UK.  Fifty-two sustainable homes designed by 24 architects’ practices were built and opened to the public – to explore them, ask questions about and then buy or rent the homes after the month-long Expo was finished.  

 

This approach to housing development is fantastic.  It encourages debate about future design, materials, sustainable living and the concept of creating communities through construction.  

Housing Fairs are no new concept in Finland.  The fair in the highlands was very much inspired by – and based on – the Finnish model where the housing fair concept is very successfully used to showcase innovations in housing designs.

The founders of the Finnish Housing Fair Co-operative Organisation have had true vision: since 1970, these (very nearly) annual fairs have encouraged debate on current issues related to living such as sustainable development and saving energy. A site is agreed upon and then developed in a collaborative project.  The Housing Fair Organisation works together with each host municipality to run the fair.  Each fair contributes far more to the development of a Finnish town than just an exciting new residential area: the surrounding area benefits from visitors to the fair spending money in local shops and restaurants, the project provides employment and the external investment in the local area improves local services.

This organisation was founded in 1966 by a combination of Housing Associations, banks and regional authorities.  The organisation is a customer focused, non-profit body based on a collective responsibility and approach to housing.

Everyone has their own responsibilities:

1. The Finnish Housing Fair Co-operative Organisation

- general public services, technical issues related to the fair and marketing of the event.

2. The host municipality

- the target area’s land use plan, public utilities timetable, car parking for the fair 

3. The developers and builders

- the completion of their own projects, their financing and any promotional material for the fair.

As well as general housing fairs, Finland hosts more specific fairs focussing on areas such as child-friendly design, the living lifespan of a building, energy efficiency, holiday living and the work environment.  

  

The Scottish Housing Expo attracted 31,000 visitors compared to 85,000 at Finland’s first fair in 1970.  

We really hope that Scotland will continue to follow Finland’s example and make these fairs a regular occurrence.  It inspires and encourages architects and developers to push the boundaries.  Andrew Black Design’s Healthy House built as part of the recent Expo has a predicted annual heating cost of £64.  By engaging Housing Associations, banks, local councils and the general public, Finland’s architecture and sustainable development has moved forwards in leaps and bounds and this is a great example for Scotland to follow. 

All of the photos on the post were taken at the Scottish Housing Expo 2010.

Little things!

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Last week we ordered a stamp from www.englishstamp.com  All we had to do was upload a high quality jpeg image of our Building Workshop logo and then the friendly people at The English Stamp Company made it for us.  It arrived yesterday.   The stamp has a nice wooden handle and does a great job!  We will use it to stamp lots of things, mainly envelopes, and anything else that gets in its way.    

 

 

 

A Saturday afternoon walk...

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We went for a walk up Glenogil to have a look at some of the buildings that have been beautifully restored over the past few years.  The estate has done a fantastic job of ‘make do and mend’.  All of the old cottages that were falling down are now looking very smart and proper, with careful attention to detail.  This is exactly the sort of workmanship that we like to see. 

 

 

 

Things we love - Rayburns

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We have just spent the weekend cow sitting at the farm and have fallen in love with the trusty old wood burning Rayburn in the kitchen.

Rayburn’s current advertising campaign mentions good food, hot baths and a warm home.  What more could you want in this cold weather?!  An older model won’t quite warm the whole home, but it keeps the kitchen lovely and warm.  And they look really good too.

With oil being so expensive at the moment, many people are reluctant to turn on the heating, but with a wood burning Rayburn (or any kind of wood burning stove) you can keep it going all day long.  As well as being a much more sustainable option, wood is the least expensive fuel for cooking, domestic hot water and central heating, and if you have your own wood supply, even better.

Collecting the wood and chopping it up is half of the fun and good exercise too.  A few weeks ago, we spent a long Saturday chopping up fallen trees in the woods, and dragging them up the bank before chopping them into logs and taking them home.  This wood would have just rotted into the ground, instead it will provide us with fuel to keep us warm all winter.    

Architect's Kitchen - Apple and Olive Oil Cake with Maple Syrup Icing

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This is the recipe for one of our favourite cakes.  It is made with olive oil instead of butter, and if you wrap it in clingfilm for a day or two before icing it, the flavours intensify.  You can either ice it with the maple syrup icing, or just dust it with icing sugar for a less indulgent cake.  Either way, it is delicious and a wonderful weekend cake!

Contemporary Farmhouse Project

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We are working on a renovation and extension to a farmhouse in Angus and it is a really exciting project.  The farmhouse at present looks a bit sad.  It is a traditional Angus farmhouse with two main rooms downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs.  The brief given to Building Workshop was to transform the house into a comfortable, contemporary farmhouse for a family, with a strong connection with the farmyard and surrounding fields.

When this house was built, in 1904, homes were very different to the way they are now.  There was no electricity, some rooms found in modern day houses did not yet exist: toilets were outside, and four people sharing a bedroom was not uncommon.  Fitting bathrooms and mod cons into the existing house has resulted in compromised internal spaces.  So, in order to make this farmhouse a great home for 21^st century family living, it will need to be extended. 

This must be done without altering the character of the building.  We have designed two single-storey extensions which connect into the existing building along a central spine: a traditional looking extension to the east and a contemporary ‘shed’ living space to the west of the house.  The traditional extension will house a new master bedroom and bathroom and the contemporary extension will be a large open plan living space, connected to the kitchen with a glass link. 

The existing farmhouse will be beautifully restored in order to contrast with the contemporary extension.  This sharp contrast is essential for this design to work. 

We make models during the design development of all of our projects.  We also model all of our projects on our 3D computer programme so that you can walk through the finished building. This helps everyone from the client to the tradesmen (and even us) understand what the end result will be even before the foundations have been been laid.

Living Architecture

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This wild and whacky cantilevered holiday house designed by Dutch architects MVRDV has recently been completed in Suffolk.  The Dutch practice was commissioned by ‘Living Architecture’ – a social enterprise that is on a mission to let people experience living in houses designed by world-class architects.

 

www.living-architecture.co.uk 

Most people only experience the work of great architects in public spaces such as airports or galleries, so by commissioning internationally renown practices to design and build these holiday homes, Living Architecture is giving everyone an opportunity to live, sleep and dream architecture!

There are four holiday homes that are now available for booking.  Each one sleeps between 8 and 10 people.  For about £20-£25 per person per night (based on a 4 night stay), it really is accessible – as long as you have some friends who are willing to go with you.

Our favourite design is the Balancing Barn.  Partly because it’s a barn, but also because it’s simple and pure.  The barn has a very rigid structure which makes the cantilever possible.  The structure balances on a central concrete core and the section that sits on the ground is constructed from heavier materials than the section that floats in mid air.  It’s as simple as that!

As well as looking very modern and shiny, the Balancing Barn is also an energy efficient building – highly insulated, ventilated by a heat recovery system and warmed by a ground source heat pump.

We think this is a fantastic idea and if we weren’t so busy designing big bright kitchens for family homes, cow sheds and barn conversions, we’d be there like a shot.