.reynolds architecture ltd
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the long house

This commission came about as a result of some sketch designs we’d carried out for the magazine ‘Home Building and Renovating’ dream home challenge in 2001. We’d completed a couple of designs at the inception of the practice in order to obtain some exposure and because at that time our work load was limited.
In 2002 Jac Volbeda (the Dutch artist www.jacvolbeda.co.uk) contacted us to say that he’d seen our design for a Long House in a CD which the magazine had published and that he was keen to build something similar on the windswept machair of Baleshare, North Uist. We were skeptical at first, but became convinced when Jac arrived at our Dingwall office within the month with his young family to discuss the project.
The house itself is an interpretation of the traditional long house / crofthouse found on the west coast and islands of Scotland. The narrow gable form and restricted storey height allowed us to accentuate the stair and entrance to the house by forming a flat turret projecting from the principal wing of the building, coupled with the T shaped plan the internal spaces maximize room sizes, internal void spaces and keep to a minimum wasteful circulation space. Externally the language is of the traditional: slate roof, traditional style dormer windows, with a wet harl finish and the central wing clad in timber, with a reduced ridge height to maintain the hierarchy with the principal frontage.

Project duration: two years with completion in the spring of 2007

Construction cost: undisclosed

Contractor: self build

Client: Jac, Caj and Senna Volbeda

Year: 2007