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PROJECT REPORT: SELFBUILD & CUSTOM BUILD PROJECTS
Photography: Daniel Wilcox Photography
“I don’t usually worry about ordering materials or shortages and delays – that’s someone else’s problem!”
island which she contrasted with black composite work surfaces. The concrete finish also complements the backdrop to the wood burning stove, a feature Jane designed with her builders. She took leftover flooring back to Northern Ireland and had it sandblasted to expose the grain; it was then made into shuttering and backfilled with concrete.
PROJECT FACTFILE
Architect: Jane Burnside Architects Steel Frame: Smyth Steel Windows: Bann Architectural Slating Contractor: McCallum Roofing Oban Blown Insulation: Energy Store Haulage: John MacDonald, Dortech Direct
Kitchen and Bathrooms: Ballycastle Homecare Sliding Doors: Elite Doors Electrician: Westech Plumber: Coast Plumbing Stair Handrail: Rope & Splice Flooring: Havwoods UK
Adjacent to the open plan living/ kitchen/dining space is the couple’s master bedroom, which isn’t as large as you might expect; quite deliberately. “When we were sailing, I was used to sleeping in very compact little timber clad cabins with everything stowed away. I wanted to recreate my memory of that.” The timber flooring continues up the wall to create a headboard and a small window has been created in the solid gable overlooking the church. A small wood burner adds extra comfort in the winter.
The bedroom is accessed by a large sliding door, an idea that first surfaced in their previous house. The door leaves are made from two pieces of MDF sandwiched together and fitted with a sliding mechanism which Jane sourced from Hafele Sliding Gear. Another nod to life on the waves is the rope handrail on the staircase, which Jane had designed by Rope & Splice. Throughout this project, Jane has had her eye on every single detail, but how does she feel now about the experience of moving
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from architect to project manager to site foreman? “It was a big undertaking. You have the total responsibility for absolutely everything in the chain, from ordering the materials to getting things built correctly.” She adds: “I now appreciate when a contractor says to me there’s been a delay on something, it can be down to various things; poor ordering, poor chasing, the weather, a transportation failure, or the order’s wrong when it arrives. You see everything more in the round, and you also realise how much you don’t know.” In the words of one of her builders, there ‘may be a lot of building’ in Jane’s home, but she and David have turned a brownfield space in a conservation area into a place that they love, and one which genuinely complements its surroundings. Feedback from the community has been positive, and Jane also hopes that it’s paved the way for more self-builders to experiment, and “ask for more from their architects and builders. She says it’s an instructive process for any architect: “Building your own house is an apprenticeship in all aspects of building, and I would recommend every architect to do it at some point, and the earlier in their career the better.” She’s now completed four such homes, but admits that Origami Studio has been the hardest, because of the extra roles she took on. She concludes: “I imagine it’s a bit like skydiving – thrilling at the time, but I’ll not be doing it again!” g
ADF JULY 2022
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