The Deepstone House by Simon Winstanley Architects
Simon Winstanley Architects have completed the Deepstone house in south west Scotland.
Full description after the photos….
The Deepstone House by Simon Winstanley Architects
The house is located on a spectacular site overlooking the Solway Firth in south west Scotland.
The site is a steeply sloping, former quarry in a National Scenic Area which slopes steeply in two directions from the quarry base which forms the only level ground access.
The house is conceived as a stone plinth which echos the exposed quarry face and houses the bedrooms with a garage & entrance under at the level of the quarry base. The principal living accommodation is expressed as a lightweight glazed ‘pavilion’ sitting on the solid plinth. It is set back to form an external terrace facing the sea and to reduce the apparent mass of the house.
The glazed pavilion is constructed with a steel frame and highly insulated timber infill panels clad in cedar and triple glazed windows. The roof, although thick internally to provide very high levels of insulation, is cantilevered on all sides with projecting expressed douglas fir rafters to give a thin, elegant leading edge.
The roof is finished in standing seem pre-fabricated grey zinc. The masonry base is finished in stone from re-cycled quarry waste.
The design uses the most energy efficient construction & technology where possible as part of a sustainable approach to building for the future:
• the external walls, floor and roof are insulated to a high standard and air infiltration is minimised.
• triple glazed windows with warm edge spacer bars, thermally broken frames and inert gas filled to achieve a whole window u-value of 0.7W/m2K.
• heat pump using a borehole as the ground source for the underfloor heating and hot water system with a closed combustion wood burning stove as back up.
• micro generation of renewable electricity using roof mounted Photovoltaic Panels.
• whole house heat recovery ventilation system.
The design met the client’s brief for a contemporary, energy efficient home which fully embraces the view and relates to the surrounding context and landscape.
Visit the website of Simon Winstanley Architects – here.
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Heleno Suassuna on 17 Nov 2009 at 6:20 am #
nice mix of stone/wood, steel/glass…love it.
greetings from brazil!
Jim M on 17 Nov 2009 at 7:07 am #
The simplicity is exquisite…the siting; OMG!
I’m ready to take up residency in Scotland.
Zero34 on 17 Nov 2009 at 9:23 am #
just needs some color inside… other then that this is a REALLY nice house. I just don’t understand people’s obsession with medically sterile looking rooms.
Tere on 17 Nov 2009 at 6:59 pm #
Cool! I thought it was a small house, and then I saw the stone part of the house. It’s simple, and I think when the owner moves in, he/she can make it even more beautiful by adding color.
And the location is amazing.
Chris on 18 Nov 2009 at 9:43 am #
Love the design! The only thing I’m wondering is why the roof slope is facing away from the gorgeous views/sunlight? Probably for the photovoltaic system on the roof, and the angle of the sunlight, but just wondering because it seems like more of an opportunity to switch the roof around and open the views/light into the house some more.
Geroge on 18 Nov 2009 at 12:58 pm #
i am also curious on the direction of the roof
Michael on 18 Nov 2009 at 7:06 pm #
There’s nothing wrong with the angle of the roof. The windows on the downhill side are sufficiently tall enough to take advantage of the views and light, while the uphill pitch allows clerestory windows for even more light from the other side of the house. If the roof were pitched the other direction you’d have no light entering the house on the uphill side, due to the slope of the hill.
The roofline also mimics the slope of the hill for a gentler visual impact in the setting.
Great modern place but, what’s up with the living room furniture?
TDK on 20 Nov 2009 at 1:41 am #
BEsides more light entering the back of the house, couldn’t another reason for the angle of the roof be wind force? It’s right near the sea and Scotland is regularly hit by Atlantic storms. The way the roof is angled now would cause winds to exert downward pressure, of the roof was angled towards the sea, it would act as a wing and the wind would exert upward pressure. It’s easier to keep the roof on if the wind is pushing it down onto the house. But I’m just guessing here.
Bri on 20 Nov 2009 at 9:08 pm #
What’s that blue thing on the ceiling?
Adam on 08 Dec 2009 at 3:22 am #
Thanks for all the comments.
I am not the Architects who designed the project, but can answer your comments as best I can:
The roof angle has nothing to do with the wind. Luckily our buildings are built strong enough to withstand harsh weather, which is especially important in this part of the world:-)
The angle comes from the difficult site, which is a very steep angle rock hillside on a former quarry. As Michael pointed out, the visual impact was important to be kept to a minimum.
The blue thing on the ceiling is a plastic cover that was not taken off the smoke detector before we took the photo.