Glendale: The Harmless House

OUR APPROACH

We began by taking time to understand the aspects of Kathy and Richie’s life that the house needed to accommodate, from workspace and indoor/outdoor activities to eating and resting.

An early research focus was ageing in place, allowing us to apply dementia-friendly design principles to design decisions in a way that felt homely rather than institutional. Simple layouts were aided by tonal and material clarity, bespoke kitchen and bathroom configurations and easily legible sanitaryware and ironmongery.

Investigations around the traditional rural vernacular of Stirlingshire influenced the proportions, form and materiality of the house, comprised as two pitched timber-framed volumes in an offset arrangement with a robust skin of black corrugated aluminium.

We created generous areas to combine work and home life surrounded by art and nature, as well as a more informal workshop and defined outdoor spaces for wellbeing activities and to house their collection of motorbikes, kayaks and cycles.

RESULT AND IMPACT

Following 5 years living on site in a static caravan, Kathy and Richie moved into their new home confident it would support their active lifestyle and allow them to live independently for as long as possible.

Glendale House was delivered to affordable housing standards, Passivhaus principles and generates 85% of the energy it uses. It became the first house to receive a Gold Award under the Dementia Services Development Centre’s EADDAT assessment, and has become a teaching case study for dementia-inclusive home environments and a model for future rural lifetime homes.

Best of all, the home connects our clients to the community and landscape they love in a way that treads very lightly on the land.