AWARD

Robert Potter & Partners and Andy Stakes

North Witch Point

This cliff top house at North Witch Point, Portpatrick is on the site of a former radar station, with sweeping views to the North Channel in this remote coastal corner of Galloway. The earth-sheltered design embeds the house in the plateau, affirming the relationship between humanity and nature, clinging to existence above the relentless sea.

The design solution responded to the sensitive landscape setting, to blend comfortably with the existing landforms, embracing and enhancing the landscape character. The unobtrusive single-storey arrangement sought to blend into the natural setting, echoing the stealth of submariners in the Russian Fleet as they passed the listening station which had occupied the site during the cold war.

The grass roof and stone walls embed the structure into the cliff top whilst unadorned glazed openings maximise the dramatic coastal outlook from the property and take advantage of southerly solar gain. Its plan takes the form of a cluster of room spaces interconnected by a glass passage set to the north. The rooms are arranged to provide breathtaking views to the south and south-west through uninterrupted glazed openings looking over the cliff edge to the seascape beyond. Each opening is carefully framed by flanking buttresses to provide privacy for the occupants.

COMMENDations

Ewan Cameron Architects | Stirlingshire House