Its synesthetic name Faire Chaolais (with its poetic and ingenious meaning of “View of the Sound”) immediately describes a striking project in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. An eco-friendly newly built house arises in the beautiful Morar peninsula, along the so called “Road to the Isles” route from Fort William to Mallaig. It has been designed by the Dualchas Architects studio – representative of the Scotland pavilion at the Venice Biennale (Biennale di Venezia) - that has been able to expertly renew the traditional concept of rural building into a modern housing vision involving, among other things, the inclusion of the panoramic element as an added value of the structure.
The 150sq.m building is made up of two overlapping volumes with perpendicular focal points. The lower cantilevered floor consists of three bedrooms - two doubles and one single with a bunk bed - and a study with a view on the inner garden, all surrounded by a slope. The upper floor, connected with the surrounding landscape, houses a large living area characterized by large leather sofas and a dining area with a wood stove to heat the atmosphere even in winter. The impressive glass windows frame the living area and, above all, allow to enjoy the amazing view of the iconic white beaches of the place.
The house has a simple central map, with the built-in south facade giving shape to an upper level balcony and providing shelter from the sun. The rainscreen larch cladding covers two sides and the roof: this is a solution adopted to maintain a good appearance of the building during the passage of the trains. Moreover, its shape amplifies the scenic effect when it rains: the has
creates a small waterfall outside the windows of the rooms.
The interior looks minimalist, thanks to the lacquered white cement pavement and the gypsum lacquering, equally light. Natural light is in fact the main element: it gives different feelings and makes a play of reflexes depending on the viewpoint.
With regard to energy, the house has been designed to minimize the heat dispersion. For this reason, it has a heat recovery ventilation system and a heating floor system which uses renewable energy derived from an air-source heat pump.
Thanks to its shape and concept, Faire Chaolais differs from the traditional canonical structures in the area. This outcome has been desired by the same architect Daniel Bär that describes his project as a genuine reaction to a challenge resulting from the complex and demanding territorial context, situated between two congested arterial roads. Characterized by only two viewpoints and free of lateral openings, the extended structure takes inspiration from “a telescope or the horse blinkers that orient the view excluding the surroundings”.
