two-roomed ‘Butt and Ben’ or the grandeur of a granite castle (turrets optional), but architectural design couple Suzanne and Mark McPhillips combined a design that encapsulates their tastes with a home that sits well within a challenging plot of land between woodland and coast. Gaelic for ‘green headland’, the Scottish Highland hamlet of Arduaine is the setting for a modernist home where western architectural design meets eastern traditional style. The newly-built house sits perched on a hillside close to Oban in West Scotland. As you approach the house from the road below, there are tantalising glimpses of a half-hidden black box viewed through the foliage not unlike a bird hide. As you continue along the road, the building is gradually revealed. This, Mark says, is his favourite element of their new home which has been cut into a hill a short walk from the coastline. “It remained a dream to build our own home and we came across the site in Arduaine by chance one day when driving past, giving us the opportunity to make the dream a reality,” says Suzanne. “We found a site with a sea view and they are as rare as hen’s teeth at a reasonable price. We’ve lived by the sea for about 20 years and it’s become an essential thing for us for our wellbeing.”
W
Sitting on a steep slope the land came with the challenge of designing a house they could afford. “We just thought: what can we do with
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hen we think of forested areas of the Highlands of Scotland, we tend to think of the traditional simplicity of a
the site?” Suzanne adds. The couple trained as architects in the 1980s and met years later in Hong Kong. Having left mainstream architecture to set up their own design studio, it was only a matter of time before they would design and build their own home. The plot of land came with planning permission already in place for a traditional three bedroom house. But the couple had different ideas of what the house could look like. “The design came from the topography of the site, because it’s such a steep, sloping site it’s quite restricting what we could do with it,” says Mark. “We’ve come up with various house designs over the years for various different sites and they’ve all been quite different depending on the site.”
Familiarity with the area meant they knew it
was already home to several modern designed houses, so getting planning permission for their design was relatively simple. Despite this the couple were very aware of the surroundings and how a design might fi t into it. ou have a very different set of priorities when you’re building in a very heavily natured area,” explains Mark. “The planners were supportive of designing something quite contemporary. A lot of planners wouldn’t like what we did but the people we dealt with in Oban were very supportive.” The design makes maximum use of the width of the site, while also making the most of the views to the sea. The depth of the usable site was restricted by the desire to keep ground excavation to a minimum. The single storey height ensures that the building remains discreet
HIGH POINT
“For Mark it is the tantalising views of the house as we approach our drive and the house reveals itself. The views over the top of the trees towards the coast is Suzanne’s favourite element. Because of the way the house has been built, the view cuts across the tops of trees towards the water.”
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