Accommodation Units for the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Aberdeenshire.

Making an accommodation unit for artists residencies isn’t like making a house. It’s not like making a hotel room either. Equally, it’s not a caravan or a trailer, though it shares some of the characteristics of all of these. The idea of the artists residency means adding to the artists experience. The units respond to the remarkable and unusual setting.

The proposal refers to the idea of basic shelter such as huts, tents, yurts, and shacks. It is intended as a sophisticated reworking of these ideas.

References that influence the design include the recumbent stone circles, the shaggy coats of the highland cattle, the plastic wrapped bales of straw, agricultural machinery and the semi-derelict buildings in the landscape. And the layers of clothes and anoraks that the Aberdeenshire climate demands.

Make up of Units:

Each unit is built up from a series of elements.

Frame:
An exposed internal steel frame which feels like infrastructure.

Coat:
Wrapping around the frame like a winter coat, a soft, quilted sleeve insulates and waterproofs the unit. Like clothing, the pattern and tailoring of the sleeve characterises each unit. Interior tailoring includes pocket-shelves – panels which books/objects can be stored. The construction of the fabric skin and the frame is intended to be ‘loose’, accentuating the feeling of the unit as shelter.

Interior:
The interior space is defined by a series of objects:

1. An enclosed bathroom unit containing WC, basin and shower.
2. A chimney and fireplace.
3. A storage unit, which acts as a partial separation between the sleeping area and the main space.

The design of these elements is intended to add unusual character to the units – and differentiate between units - a rock-bathroom exterior recalling the vertical part of the Neolithic stone circles. The chimneys to suggest factories rather than homes. The storage/wardrobe becomes a blackboard to allow temporary personalisation of the space by artists during their stay.