2 New Build "Corten" steel clad houses -  In and around - The  Steadings at Little Mill of Clinterty - Kingswells Aberdeenshire - North East - Scotland.

STEP 1 - Survey Drawing by Andrew McAvoy

Survey of Agricultural context Drawing by Andrew McAvoy

STEP 2 - Imagine Drawing by Andrew McAvoy

Back to remnants of a moment in mid 19th century Time - 2 Steading Buildings .

Step 3 - Model Model made " in House " to further familiarisation. By Andrew McAvoy

Step 4 - Detail development.

In 2015 On pilgrimage with Tony Dunworth to Enric Miralles - Igualada Cemetery in the Gerona Countryside We found this Corten Clad factory and thought it to be rather ... hem

Structural Steel delivered to Ferguson Marine.

Feeding work to Ferguson's Marine to keep them going in a tricky patch, knowing they brought shipbuilders skill + quality to fabrication of the structural frame.

Feeding work to Ferguson's Marine to keep them going in a tricky patch, knowing they brought shipbuilders skill + quality to fabrication of the structural frame.

Link Corridor space being formed in steel and granite

Stainless Steel outriggers by Ferguson Marine

Stainless steel Crucifrom capitols awaiting Tanine laced oak Primaries

Oak primaries slotted to Stainless Steel Oak Primaries

Oak Framed Link Corridor and Party wall to Courtyard being formed in Blockwork

Andrew + Client Gavin Robb sorting out some ergonomics

Steve Campbell checking the Ergonomics

Underfloor Heating powered by the Ground source Heat pump going in

inspecting the stainless welds at Ferguson Marine

Come on then .. lets be having you ..

The Practice has an ongoing interest in Oriental Carpentry Miyajima- Tsugi : Halved oblique scarf Joint.

The practice has a root in Oriental Carpentry and This Joint was considered -Miyajima - Tsugi or halved Scarf.

Adjacent to a Nineteenth Century Mill and Farmhouse lay a series of redundant agricultural buildings ( steadings ) . We assessed these buildings for suitability for conversion into a single  family home and quickly decided that two were more efficient than one. Via historic maps we pin-pointed what remained of the original farm. Other than the mill and farmhouse in separate ownership we were left with two parts of a steading facing each other over a courtyard. The 19th Century remnants were buried under a series of 20th Century additions - our first Job was to find them. We discovered that the third side of this courtyard was missing and we carefully negotiated planning permission to replace it and correct the agricultural typology of a U shaped Steading forming a courtyard.
We respected the wider situation and building grouping and left the Mill and original farm House to speak the loudest. We then  worked down from existing ridge heights and the wedge form evolved naturally.
Considerations of privacy, sun light, landscape, view and agrarian flavor generated the form.
Divisions of public and private space were delineated by the nature of old and new parts of the buildings:
Living rooms to hover over the landscape / bed and bath functions within the realms of the granite steadings.
We commisioned Fergusons non military Shipyard in Port Glasgow to fabricate and erect the steel Frame.
We worked with them on the site to erect it in the middle of December.
As the portals were erected it framed the landscape like a Hokusai view of mount Fuji.
It performs super efficiently via a ground source heat pump that distributes its Energy through a polished Concrete Floor
To sit aloft in the living area is to float over the world.

fundamental to the expression of the bulding is the Shipsteel or Corten Cladding. This material was chosen whilst chasing Down Enric Miralles Burial place in the outskirts of Barcelona with Graphical House Tony Dunworth . We had the most sublime day where we really considered Entropy in all its forms . On the way back to the train we saw the BUFF building below.

The clients Gavin and Angelique differed entirely in their support for Corten . Gavin hated it as an idea - " cold hard unfeeling stuff - metal " he said . But Angelique loved it as the gardener. In the end Angelique won, we chased the raw material accross Europe and negotiated its detailing . Finally a local blacksmith agreed to install it. Once it rusted up to the hue oof the Lnscape Gavin loved it to.
Pheewwww !!!

It sits entropically 8 miles in land from the sea Oxidising with all else around it.

The twin or second house is emerging and will be completed in 2016

Engineered locally by David Leake

Landscaping by Client Angelique at  - papillonlandscape.co.uk

Thanks to  Fergusons Marine for bespoke structural metal work that facilitated Green Oak Framing ! Top notch and ship shape !

Excellent 'old school" Builder - Steve Campbell - Campbell and Mackintosh  - http://www.campbellandmacintosh.co.uk
Steve was a pleasure to work with and I cannot recommend him enough.

Featured as new Guard To watch in Dwell - Hit this link for their take on our work on the first of 2 Houses at the LIttle Mil of Clinterty

Article by Caroline Ednie in Homes and Interiors in spring 2015 isssue Hit the link to read more or see Press Section of this site

These Tatty boxes for Tatties prepared for sale in the Tatty Sheds at Little Mill of Clinterty suggested Utility function and a robust aesthetic for the 2 houses. This is a specific agricultural Landscape and not the shires of england depicted and supported in the Local development plan.