Architects Datafile (ADF) – June 2019

I

ntegra House is a new home built for a

client that’s also the product of a research

project at Robert Gordon University to

improve provision of energy efficient,

sustainable, healthy and genuinely affordable

housing. Prefabricated truss construction

used for the entire house construction is

claimed to be a potential way to not only

eliminate fuel poverty, but also address

capital and life cycle costs and indoor air

quality, in a fully repeatable model.

“The client specified a budget for a two

to three bedroom house, and she wanted

it to be environmentally friendly,” so says

Gokay Deveci – professor at the university

and the designer behind the pioneering,

all-timber house. The architect has made a

name for himself over recent decades for

his contributions to affordable eco-housing,

of which Integra represents one of his

latest iterations.

Excluding the foundations, the project’s

budget was set at £140,000 – around £1,000

per square metre – posing tight financial

constraints to an already isolated plot

which was challenged further by the

often aggressive Scottish weather. Deveci

continues: “The client came from a granite

cottage before and was very concerned

about the running costs. So, I had a very

limited amount of money to build a new

house that was also energy efficient.”

The slightly sloping rural site, located in

Tyrie, near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire,

consisted of a farm building and derelict

sheds, served by single-track access. Early

proposals made attempts to integrate a

house inside one of these pre-existing

buildings. “There were some existing stone

walls,” says Deveci, “but their structural

conditions were so bad I had to abandon

that.” Regarding planning, Deveci notes that

the project received encouragement from

planners: “They were comfortable with us

being a little experimental.”

Given these circumstances, a saving

grace for the architect was that the client

had no particular fixed idea in terms of the

architectural identity of the new building. So,

partnered with the generous size of the site,

the design was allowed more space to

breathe in certain areas. Unknown at the

time of the brief, these parameters would

serve as a platform for innovation in

affordable green living.

Plan & provision

In plan, Integra house is long, simple and

rectangular – roughly 18.2 metres by

7 metres – for practical structural reasons, as

Deveci explains: “It’s to do with the gable

ends and the way the roof trusses stand side

by side.” It’s an extremely windy site and as a

result the building gables were located facing

the prevailing wind.

The building is almost as simple in form as

in plan, featuring a pitched roof which

combines 60 degree and 25 degree angles,

serving to displace the roof’s peak to the

eastern side of the house’s mass: “It came

entirely from the materials, the structure, and

the way that things were put together.” The

entire structure, skin and insulation is

comprised of timber.

The architect explains that a flat roof was

considered early in the design process due to

INTEGRA HOUSE

ABERDEENSHIRE

BUILDING

PROJECTS

Nestled into the Scottish highlands, a new kind of

sustainable house design makes a simple, repeatable and

inventive structure from abundant local materials to yield

big cost savings. Sébastien Reed speaks to architect Gokay

Deveci about Integra House

Green house effect

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