The houses:

http://scotlandshousingexpo.com/houses.php

For info!

Houses

The Scotland's Housing Expo is all about how to live a lifestyle that’s more eco-friendly and sustainable, in a home built for energy efficiency that respects natural resources and uses them creatively. The 55 homes on view were all winners in a professionally accredited competition for architects and builders held in 2007, when The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland invited architects and developers to compete for plots. The wide variety of ingenious concepts on display shows how much can be achieved in the drive towards a more eco-conscious society...

...Sustainability is an important feature of the Expo and represents a superb opportunity for businesses that promote sustainable services and products. The ethos of the Expo is to make sustainability a standard element of all future housing design.

Blog

http://scotlandshousingexpo.tumblr.com/

I'm only thankful it appears to be happening at last. There's been a great deal of trubble with a capital t, it should have happened last year, the 'economic downturn' and a host of other difficuties meant its postponement, and the terrible weather over the winter I'm sure hasn't helped get the building work underway.

Looking at the designs, some look good and some look pretty hideous to me (I tend to go for simple... ) and sticking 'em all together in one place is possibly going to look a little bizarre really. They will be for sale/rent after it's all over.

However, it's a first and it will certainly be an interesting one to follow.

Let's hope the 'mass housebuilders' with their fakery 'gob-on' neo whatever pastiches and appalling designs take some note... although I doubt it somehow.

I suspect that many of the architects are so amazed it's actually happening that they haven't got round to such stuff as yet.

One or two of the houses, if you click on the links have PDFs, but I haven't as yet looked further.

And a PS

For those drawn to an all-timber interior (and yes, it can be attractive and durable and sustainable and doesn't require frequent trips to the paint shop) a note of caution:


http://unhappyhipsters.com/post/503646350/using-that-last-stack-of-kindling-for-paneling

Hi,

so who else has been?

there are some striking designs and it's a great achievement what with the economy and all, but frankly...

we chatted with a few people as we steamed around (4 hours was not enough) and I've subsequently discussed it in some depth with an interested low carbon (embodied and lifetime) designer/builder friend and, while such a showcase is invigorating, a step in a new direction for some of the big name construction companies involved, and a welcome diversification of the established vernacular, popular opinion was that most of the buildings fall down on practicality: there're too many 'sun-spaces', atria, and balconies at the expense of usable space. And what is it with bathrooms? Why do some architects seem to think we need one per bedroom?

When we went there were 3 houses still incomplete - one of which was no more than a concrete floor - this is a real shame as the weather and the economy have not been kind. Of those presentable, there are only two where we thought form was balanced by function, with maybe another couple of also-rans.

However, there is more than one example where there were bedrooms without a single blank wall (i.e with no full-length window/built-in wardrobe/door/en-suite access/balcony access) - and the rooms certainly aren't big enough to have a free-standing bed in the middle of the room. There are balconies overlooking kitchens, presumably so you could decide whether you liked the smell of supper, and drop in additions of your choice if you didn't - this seemed crazy to us. There are bedrooms directly off main public rooms - better hope the inhabitants are the last to their bed.
There's one case of a toilet/shower directly off an open-plan kitchen - not sure how that will get a building warrant (this is based on the plans on the Expo website, as this was one of the 'incompletes').

To balance these criticisms, there is a fair selection of non-standard build techniques, and some interesting and eye-catching finishes that fly in the face of 'harled telephone-exchange' look that bedevils the Highland housing stock; most of the builds are described and explained in the on-site blurb (although this is not available via the Expo website), and importantly there is *some* performance assessment, albeit not independent. Furthermore, the whole 'estate' has been laid out to facilitate a coherent, integrated, and inclusive societal structure, with a village green and communal play-area, in contrast to the perceived 'isolationist' contemporary norm.

Rounding off: we were uncertain as to who the bulk of the visitors might be: those already converted to the green building agenda or those requiring a demonstration that it really is a viable alternative to the mainstream, worth the extra premium. Our belief is that the former (as we consider ourselves) would note the good components and consider how to incorporate them into a (better) design of their own, whereas we fear that the latter might mistake the architectural whimsy of the majority of the houses as being symptomatic of the whole movement, unfairly tarring it as 'impractical'; I'd like to think we're selling them short.

It's on till the 31st - get along!

Jeremy