Private Homes \ House At Milldale, Aberdeenshire

The plot is at the southern end of a crescent of detached bungalows forming the hamlet of Milldale. There is a small bank of trees between the plot and the main road adjacent and the ground rises slowly from west to east. The locale is unspectacular but a pleasing open landscape of gently rolling farmland with a long view to the south.

Our project shows a linear design, single storey, on a east-west orientation. This indicates a termination of the development in Milldale and presents a virtually blank wall to the north, or semi- public side of the house. It is pierced only by entrance doors and some very small windows. The extent of the house is only evident from the south elevation, which is largely glazed, with the whole design being orientated towards maximising passive solar gain: the angle of the roof accepting maximum low winter light but shading in the height of summer.

Internally, the development of the house consists of a kitchen/dining area at the centre, with bedrooms to the east and a living room at a lower level to the west, capturing the afternoon and evening sunlight. The section of the house shows a glazed south elevation and also a long ridge of south facing glazed roof lights to bring in sunlight along the northern edge of the main part of the plan. Integral to the design of the house are insulated shutters to all the windows and roof lights to minimise heat loss in the winter and night time so that a large proportion of the skin of the building varies its insular and solar gain qualities with external conditions.

The materials of the house are externally - dry-dash blockwork, with timber window frames given a clear stain on the south elevation, and a turn-coated metal steel roof. The structure is a hybrid: a galvanised steel frame to the south for the open facade and load bearing blockwork internally. The appearance from the public side of the site will be effectively of a garden wall. There is extensive landscaping along the southern boundary of the site with a series of stepped gardens adjacent to the living room, kitchen/dining room, and bedrooms respectively.