up to the highlands...kinda

Welcome to Loch tay!

The road trip and visit to the crannog at loch tay was purdy interesting, its nice to see a bit of scotland while im here.

The actual site for our building was a little dissapointing to me to be honest, i thought it was going to be more isolated and surrounded by woodlands...i warmed to it quickly enough though and its actually quite a unique site. The overall landscape is spectacular, my most immediate thought about my habitat for this site was that it has to be respectful to the landscape, it should add too and not take away from the landscape.

So from that i came up with the idea that the habitat would be purely responsive to the site, this should keep the design focused on a harmonious solution. The responses would be to the natural landscape so a form that lends to the landscape, using indigenous materials for the building, a harmony between the building the site and the water etc.

The next response then is historical and cultural, so a response to the crannogs that would have dotted the loch and their construction methods, materials etc and also a response to the local community for examlpe all the houses on the lake shore have entrances that are open from the road so you can see into your neighbours house from the road. This suggests to me a tight and secure community.

The next response is a more personal one. Its my own senses and experiences from the site so obviously the visual impact of the landscape, the connection to the water was something i was drawn too, i also was really drawn to the woodlands beside the site and the small little beach. This felt like a naturally created space to me and something that should connect to the internal spaces of the habitat. I also thought of this poem when i was walking home one night. Its a W.B. Yeats poem called the lake isle of innisfree which is very fitting in itself. Its about the poet wanting to move out to the wilderness and build a small cabin for himself and be self sufficient and one with nature. The specific quote i thought of which encapsulated my experience of the place is this "Lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore" its a really well constructed line poetry wise but its also just really simple it kind of captured the serenity of the site to me which is something i want to enhance in my project and not disturb!