Moxon Architects Ltd

Culardoch Shieling

Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy
Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy

CULARDOCH SHIELING

Moxon Architects

MAIN CONTRACTOR
AJC Aboyne

PROJECT MANAGER
Fowler Fortescue

QUANTITY SURVEYOR
McCue & Porter

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Graeme Craig Consulting Engineers Ltd

MANUFACTURERS
VELUX Group, Glenalmond Timber, Tor Contracting Ltd

PHOTOGRAPHS
Ben Addy

AREA
47 m²

YEAR
2016

LOCATION
Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom

CATEGORY
Houses, Small Scale

Text description provided by architect.

As if in a world unto its own, this small hut sits alone in the vast, rugged and windswept landscape of the Cairngorms, invisible from many directions thanks to the undulating topography.

Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy
Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy

Located at the foot of Culardoch (‘the big back place’), and looking out across the remote expanse of upper Glen Gairn, it plays simultaneously off the informality and romanticism of a Scottish hill walkers’ “howff”, farmer’s shieling or Swiss alpine shack, and the humanism and cleanliness of 20th century modernists such as Aalto.

Like Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut, its windows appear haphazardly placed – varying in size and orientation. But, they carefully let in the right amount of light and view while maintaining an enveloping sense of seclusion and security.

Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy
Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy

Sitting at the end of the table the view through each window frames a specific aspect of the landscape; a bend in the River Gairn, the grassy flood plain, the water of Allt Bad a’Mhonaich tumbling down the side of Ben Avon, the massive granite tors on the summit plateau.

Its exteriors and interiors both clad in wood, with the overhanging eaves of its cruck frame roof dipping low, and the roof itself covered in moss and stone.

Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy
Culardoch Shieling
© Ben Addy

The hut was commissioned as an escape, for small gatherings or parties, lunches or dinners, fitting a very long and narrow table. It is both remarkably humble and a casual, but also precise, playful and sophisticated.


Culardoch Shieling
Concept Skecth
Culardoch Shieling
Floor Plan


Culardoch Shieling
Section A
Culardoch Shieling
Elevations
Culardoch Shieling
Details

Moxon Architects Ltd
T +44 20 70340088 F +44 20 70340099
Moxon Architects Ltd
Winchester Walk, London SE1 9DE, United Kingdom