This project was to convert a church hall, which had been a much loved nursery, into a compact accessible living space. Using the front of the hall and carving out a courtyard to allow light into the depth of the spaces, arranged around the courtyard, giving each of them a connection to outside private space, as well as longer views out of the front. Each space has its own character, further enhanced by the colour and choice of materials and objects considerately placed by the client. Spatial and visual connections between each room were of great importance, to make a small place feel spacious.
As an existing church hall, the building already had a presence on the wide street, with its variety of scales of townhouses. With the ramp crossing the whole width of the building, a layering was set up, which we continued with layers of timber on the rendered front wall. The timber connects to the burnt larch timber cladding in the inner courtyard.
The client for the project was very hands on. From the design process through the whole build process, where she managed all the trades, and was involved in parts of the construction, including scorching all the burnt larch for the cladding herself (and really beautifully!)
The project is sustainable, in the decision to re-use an existing building which was no longer suitable for its purpose, in its choice of building materials, and just as importantly, in its inclusive, accessible nature.With a ramped entrance to get to a level ground floor with a main bedroom, wet room, and living and kitchen space, as well as a small snug / second bedroom. The roof space has been converted into a third bedroom and wet room. The accessible concept makes it a lifetime home for anyone.
The Rings, two wheelchair accessible holiday cottages in Fife, are now open and ready to be visited. Chambers McMillan have been involved from concept design, and have applied our specialist accessible design knowledge to achieve a building which is both an inclusive and restful place to stay.
Last week we celebrated the ground breaking for The Rings wheelchair accessible holiday cottages, with Fergus Ewing Scottish Minister for Tourism, Energy and Enterprise. This project has been through quite a process with planning, despite having an SDRP grant for the Scottish Government’s Farm Diversification Project. The Minister spoke about the importance of accessible tourism and described the building as iconic and world class: we now look forward to these cottages being built, and offering people the chance to have a fully accessible and restful holiday in the beautiful Fife countryside.
in this rural setting the landscape becomes the inspiration for the forms of the building.Chambers McMillan and our client Moira Henderson
A nice reminder that the wood awards are still open to submissions: not sure if they included our (already submitted) Ramp House as a challenge (beat this) or as a provocation (this is all we have so far). Either way its a bit of publicity, so we are not complaining. Ian’s entry was written from Greta’s point of view: the touch, sound and smell of the wood being just as important as how it looks: towards a sensory architecture.
