The UK has a target of three million new homes to be built by 2020. This demand is currently being met predominately by mass-market housing, which to date has been based on a limited range of standard typologies and a monocultural suburban development model. A signifi cant proportion of these houses are to be provided in rural environments; small Scottish towns and villages.
Rural areas have subtle variations in identity and culture due to their incremental development which respond to the changing historical cultural, sociological and economic conditions. More recently, characteristics of rural domestic buildings, rural development patterns and land use have lost these iconic regional distinctions. A result of mass market housing economics, legislative planning controls and standardised housing models has led to the homogenisation of the rural environment.
Today there is a need for an intellectual structure for design which reacts against the commercially driven developer mass-market housing. It is critically important that alternative sustainable approaches to rural housing are developed. The purpose of policies such as Architecture + Design Scotland, Pan 67, 68 & 72 are to create additional opportunities for good rural housing which respects Scottish landscapes and building traditions. Arguably, alternative regional sustainable approaches to rural housing development could reverse this trend, improving the quality and reinforcing the character of our distinct regional landscapes. The study of the relationship between domestic architecture and social change, as well as the recognition of the powerful role architecture plays, can inform and re-inform the character and identity of a place.
1. What is the context and criteria underpinning regional rural housing form and
aesthetics?
2. How to develop an absolute language for regional rural housing?
“The term absolute is intended to stress, as much as possible, the individuality of the architectural form when this form is
confronted with the environment in which it is conceived and
constructed.” (Aureli, 2011)
The Thesis explores an alternative approach to the developer housing model through an examination of the historic Scottish mansion and walled garden. In an attempt to answer these questions, this thesis explores the opposing theories of Invention and Seriality (Hutton, 2010) in three works by Rossi, Olgiati and Herzog and De Meuron. It discusses these proposals and underlying ideas in relation to the background theories and approaches in the works of venture of Robert Venturi, Louis Kahn, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Jorn Utzon. The analysis of case studies, selected to highlight different features and approaches to design, allows these theories to be explored at a practical level. These will generate thematic interpretations that can be applied to the project in Cottown.
In fluenced by the characteristics of the Scottish walled gardens, the design outcome forms a modern interpretation of this typology. The proposed arrangement creates a new identity for rural housing and generates spaces encapsulated within a boundary. Treatment of the immediate landscaping accentuates how the development is read, clearly identifying it as an object sat within the landscape. Similarly to other typologies which vary in appearance as a result of context and time, this new architectural language could be placed elsewhere and adapted to have a connection to the specifi c regional identity. This proposal achieves the same density as existing developer housing models ensuring the economic feasibility. The arrangement of the houses has been reconfi gured to release land for a different use such as food production and community facilities.
The thesis tries to create an absolute language for rural housing that forms a resistance to the mass-market developers. It attempts to highlight an alternative that is considerably richer in terms of architectural expression by incorporating other factors such as community and self-suf ficiency. Although, the scheme has only been tested on the site in Cottown, if this study were to be extended, the design concept could be tested on other rural sites within Scotland, exploring the viability of the strategy. How would each scheme specifi cally respond and express regional identity?
macromicro2014.wordpress.com 