One Off Houses

Most one off house projects we are asked to design are in rural locations. The local Planning Authorities have Rural House Design Guidelines, which  were introduced to restrict the blight of off the shelf  ‘Bungalow Bliss’ &  ostentatious ‘Mansion’ type designs which had no relationship to site context, and to encourage designs that were simple in form with a simple palette of natural materials, which echoed traditional vernacular forms, and blended into a rural landscape.Each one off house design by Ian Black Architect is unique & is a response to the client brief in terms of size, schedule of accommodation, budget, a response to the site in terms of orientation, optimising solar gain, sun path, shelter from prevailing wind, privacy of open space, contours of the site, and views of the surrounding  landscape. In addition each design is loosely based on local Planning  Authority Rural House  Design Guidelines  in terms of simple vernacular forms, shallow  dual aspect plan layouts, with a simple palette of  natural materials  but  interpreted in a contemporary style.The gallery illustrates a selection  of one off house designs  by  Ian Black .