The Model 'D' House

Situated near Insch in Aberdeenshire, the Model-D show house was recently opened by the First Minister. It is designed to demonstrate an alternative to the expensive and all too often bland properties offered by volume developers who managed to disfigure the north east rural landscape with insensitively designed kit-built unaffordable homes.

The design also seeks to stimulate revisions in our current thinking about the rural house design, including the architectural design, and increased ecological awareness concentrating on more environmental-friendly design and  use of local materials.

The client, Sylvan Stuart Ltd, is a timber frame building company is based near Insch, Aberdeenshire and specialising in timber log
buildings for the leisure, recreation and housing markets in rural areas. The client’s aims were to develop alternative contemporary design proposals that would facilitate the provision of affordable, good quality and low-energy designs that utilise the home-grown timber.

The ‘Model D’ house was constructed almost entirely from home - grown timber, and designed to meet the Government’s ‘Zero-Carbonâ €™ targets in new housing developments in 2016. It is built with an innovative double- studs system for wall and roof construction which also accommodates a continuous use of polythene sheeting for a max air tightness to meet the ‘Passivhaus’ standards .

The external rain screening is oven-treated home-grown larch timber with a long life. The screening protects the inner pine timber wall cladding, and also provides the house with its own micro-climate. The plan layout is adaptable and the current accommodation comprises a double-height open-plan living, dining and kitchen area, a workspace, two/three bedrooms, a shower-room and bathroom over a 1¾ storey layout. The Model-D House offers a viable and affordable housing option for rural communities where fuel poverty is a major concern with the rising costs of energy.

The architectural language of traditional north east agricultural buildings has been adopted. The large window openings in the south facade take advantage of the solar gain, and maximise views at the same time expressing the building’s contemporary domestic credentials. Durability and homogeneous appearance is provided by the meticulously detailed external rain screen which provides shading and privacy where required.

We feel that this development proves that sustainable and energy efficient design is possible on a low- budget and the affordability has not been achieved at the expense of architectural design or construction quality. The Model D house is a very low energy contemporary home. It demonstrates the innovative and creative use of home-grown timber, costing less than £900 per
square metre to build. It represents spectacularly good value, and is a hard-to-beat model for genuinely affordable housing stock in
the countryside.

For me, sustainable architecture covers not only ecological and energy considerations but also economic, social, and aesthetic  aspects, all of which are reflected in this affordable rural house project. I would use the phrase ‘future capable’ to describe my approach to the design.

I also understand that the tradition is to be an evolving thing. It will be altered by advances in building technology and the changes  social and cultural patterns.