Today (we’re bringing details on the finalists in the Large Scale Residential category of the Sustainable Design Forum’s 2009 Awards.

Large scale residential schemes have a tough set of demands to meet and as much of that is about what not to do as about what to do. They should look good to live in – as well as be good to live in. They must be durable and low maintenance. They mustn’t look like a ghetto or a Stalinist exercise in machine living. They have to offer openness and a sense of safety. Their architects need to remember that they are not just designing living units, they are building homes and creating communities. They have to design for that.

The finalists in this awards category are introduced in the photographs above. Top is Silverhill Cottages, Rosneath; bottom left is 1.30 Logie Place, Kirkmichael in Helensburgh; and bottom right is 3-15 Feorlinbreack in Garelochhead.

At the foot of this article are the voting rules and the link to the Sustainable Design Forum’s online voting.Also, to refresh your memory on the awards and on the finalists in the other voting categories, there is  link to the archived series of article we have published on sustainable design.

Below are details of the three finalists with some of our own queries and opinions. Let’s have yours too. Use the Comments box at the end of the article.

Silverhill Cottages, Rosneath

The citation for Silverhill Cottages is: ‘This is a development of 10 affordable cottage flats for the Dunbritton Housing Association. The buildings have been designed using the ‘long house’ concept to create a street of gables to reduce exposure to prevailing wins and to maximise the south west facing roof area for solar water heating. The buildings use TEKhaus structural insulated panel system (SIPS), providing very low U-values that are 30% more efficient than current Scottish Building standards’. Note: U-values measures how well a building component, e.g. a wall, roof or a window, keeps heat inside a building. In the case of SIPS, it is the wall and roof that are affected.

We’re curious about:

• the TEKhaus structural insulated panels. This is a relatively new and exciting building method and we will later carry a feature on it;
• how residents feel about living with a view not accessible to the main living space because of the priority given to taking advantage of solar gain at the other end of the building.

We like:

• the use of the long house design – this not only offers wind-protection but creates good living spaces in structures with pleasant lines;
• the use of timber detail on the exteriors and the gentle variation in design and detail on the gable ends -this breaks up any monotony without screaming ‘difference’ too loudly;
• the openness of the scheme, suggesting welcome and ease of access.

What about you? What do you think of this finalist and do you have information to share on materials?

1-30 Logie Pace, Kirkmichael, Helensburgh

The citation for Logie Place is: ‘This is a development of 30 family homes with cottage flats and special care houses for disabled people commissioned by the Dunbritton Housing Association. The development also includes a community floodlit football pitch and changing facilities. The houses are built around a south-facing courtyard area and most of the family housing has south-facing conservatories to take advantage of passive solar gain. The construction features the use of Scottish-made facing bricks and natural larch cladding’.

We’re curious about:

• the facing bricks – they’re pretty in your face – how visually ‘busy’ do they make the development and would they be hard to live with?
• the fussy change of timber detail ion the first floor above the porch – visible (just) in the bottom left photograph above. This has vertical cladding up to the right hand edge of the first window and then horizontal cladding form there to the gable corner. The junction of the two claddings may also be a weakness in maintenance terms.

We like:

• the use of white rendering for the access to first floor flats – this ‘cools’ the brickwork and adds some strong geometry.

What about you? What do you think of this finalist and do you have information to share on materials?

3-15 Feorlinbreck, Garelochhead

The citation for Feorlinbreack is: ‘This development by the Dunbritton Housing Association comprises 14 affordable cottage flats on a long, relatively narrow site. The buildings are all orientated to ensure that all iving accommodation is south facing and exploits passive solar gain. As with the Silverhills Cottages development for Dunbritton, also shortlisted (above), construction used structural insulated panels to achieve near air-tight conditions. This reduces the need for space heating and running costs for occupants’.

We’re curious about:

• how 4 buildings divide into 14 flats – the bottom right photograph above shows 2 external stairways to first floor level which suggests 4 flats per building. Detective work – a difference in the roof projection detail on the long elevation – suggests that there may be 3 buildings each with 4 flats and one building with 2 larger flats.  We’ll ask.

We like:

• the long house design – good use of available ground space and makes for a fluent visual relationship between fewer units;
• the differentiation in design from the Silverhills development – with the timber-lined overhanging roof, the timber clad gable triangle and the roof projection detail – above timber clad windows – breaking up the long wall;
• the blend of openness and sanctuary the design suggests.

What about you? What do you think of this finalist and do you have information to share on materials?

Things to consider when you vote – on this and the other categories to come

At the foot of these voting notes there is the link to online voting and the link to the addresses of previous articles we’ve published on these awards and on sustainable design.

Keep the following things in mind as you decide where to cast your vote in this category – and stand by tomorrow for more detail on the finalists in the Large Scale Residential category.

• Does the architect seem to know about and to have used sustainable design in the building?
• Does the building work with its surroundings?
• How good is the design quality?
• Does the design seem original in the way it thinks about the building and its place?
• Do the systems used reduce energy consumption?
• Are the materials used from sustainable sources?
• Would the materials be good to live with?
• Does the workmanship seem good?
• Has the building contributed to the regeneration of a previous site or of a wider area? (This couldn’t always be the case.)
• Does the design offer wider community benefits? (This too will not apply in all categories.)

Voting

To refresh your memory on features already published on this innovative Awards scheme and find other stories related to sustainable design: click on our Sustainable Design archive.

When you’re ready, this is where you click to vote - and we’ll keep this link available every day in each article we publish on this exciting initiative – until 20th November, the end of the public voting period.

Voting rules are:

• You don’t have to live in Argyll to vote.
• You may vote only once for one individual entry in any one category.
• You may vote in each category.

See you tomorrow when we look at the finalists in the Large Scale Residential category. In the meantime, say what you think and share what you know via the Comments box below.

Related Posts

• Living in Argyll: sustainable design (1)
• Sustainable Design Awards: the Conservation finalist (3)
• Results: Sustainable Design Awards 2009 (6)
• Argyll Sustainable Design Awards 2009 event (2)
• Sustainable Design Awards: the architect on St Moluag’s (0)

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