When Kathy Li and her companion Richie Elliot completed constructing their new self-build house in Stirlingshire’s Carron Valley, it appeared becoming to present the home a reputation that mirrored the couple’s profoundly private journey. With user-friendly areas and a non-toxic method to supplies on the coronary heart of the transient, they settled on the ‘Innocent Home’.
Their path to finishing the house was lengthy, with many twists, turns, and touch-and-go moments. On the earliest stage of the construct, nearly six years in the past, their earlier home on the positioning went up in flames, and the couple misplaced every part. It took almost 5 years to settle issues with their insurance coverage firm.
However towards the percentages the home was completed in 2021, full with future-proof and dementia-friendly designs that may permit them to develop into their house for many years to return.
Discovering the right location
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Following the hearth, the couple continued to dwell on the positioning, first in a small caravan after which in a bigger static caravan, till they moved into their new house. “We realised that what was essential to us wasn’t essentially the home, however the location. We dwell near a phenomenal reservoir and forestry the place you possibly can swim or fish, and it is good for mountain biking or highway biking. It is like slightly little bit of the Highlands in the course of Scotland between Glasgow and Edinburgh,” says Kathy.
With the state of affairs lastly resolved of their favour in 2018, Kathy started creating an in depth design brief. “The primary thought was that we did not need a lot of little rooms. We now have implausible views down the valley, so we wished to benefit from these and the woodland on the entrance. There’s a southerly facet, which received us fascinated with low-energy prices. It was time to start out once more. Out of adversity, we had this opportunity to create a home for all times.”
Future-proof design was key
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Kathy approached Ann Nisbet, Director of Glasgow-based Ann Nisbet Studio, to design and take the complete venture ahead. The couple’s transient was primarily for an energy-efficient and versatile one-bedroom home for residing and dealing, constructed utilizing “innocent” supplies.
Planners had been onside with Ann Nisbet’s design for 2 linked barns, which echo conventional types of rural structure within the pitched roofs, slim plan, and lengthy linear kind. The entrance constructing, with views to the south and west, homes the residing and kitchen house, open to the double-height apex and the bed room, lavatory, storage, and pantry.
The studio within the rear constructing is accessible from a pend (passageway), and a big opening to this space permits the couple’s bikes and motorbikes to be taken into the studio to be saved and labored on.
Each materials was rigorously thought-about
The ‘innocent’ supplies used within the building embody black corrugated metal cladding for the exterior partitions and roof and perforated corrugated steel cladding for the sliding shutters over the pend, which reference the sturdy, low-maintenance corrugated farm buildings and sheds generally discovered within the native rural panorama.
‘Innocent’ finishes embody Warmcel cellulose fibre insulation between the structural timber frames. They used Plywood for the skirting boards, internal doors (sliding and hinged), and the detailing round home windows and roof lights. The flooring are easy polished concrete, and all of the paint finishes are pure and non-toxic.
“One of many key issues was integrating the vitality techniques to make the home financial in the long run. This permits us to have extra management over our vitality consumption and working prices. It is so essential,” says Kathy.
Researching a dementia-friendly method
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One other essential a part of the transient was that the home ought to be dementia and age-friendly. Kathy’s mom and stepfather had dementia, and he or she was eager to discover and incorporate dementia-friendly design options. In response, Ann Nisbet attended a Dementia Design course at Stirling College – one of many main centres for Dementia Analysis on this planet.
“We had been eager to take this data, which largely checked out care properties and hospitals, and apply it to a home home in a non-institutional/design-led method,” says Ann.
“Many individuals have skilled a detailed buddy or member of the family being recognized with Dementia, and as we dwell longer, the numbers of individuals with dementia are rising,” says Undertaking Architect Fay Goodwin. “Easy design choices can considerably influence folks residing with dementia’s day-to-day lives. Many of those don’t add extra value to the venture however ought to be thought-about early within the design course of. Most may be seamlessly built-in into a contemporary design, avoiding an institutional aesthetic within the house.”
“This venture demonstrates that buildings can and ought to be designed to allow folks with dementia to dwell longer in their very own house and to help within the day-to-day challenges of this illness.”
Ann Nisbet is an award successful architect and Director of Ann Nisbet Design Studio, a Scottish architectural practise that was established in 2013. The studio specialises in rural and island structure; together with residential initiatives, grasp planning, and neighborhood initiatives. Ann’s work largely knowledgeable by panorama, native historical past/context, local weather and folks.
The couple moved into their new house in 2021
Finally, Kathy and Richie moved out of their static caravan and into their new home in August 2021. “I felt at house immediately,” says Kathy. “I like how our home nestles into the panorama and politely presents itself from the highway. Internally, one of many luxuries is the double-height house above your head in the principle residing space. Typically, you’re feeling mentally constrained while you go into homes, however this provides me the sensation of head house. It provides me house to suppose. It is also a cheap luxurious because it may very well be a ground space we may use. We may put a mezzanine stage in if we wished to; it has that flexibility. However that may be for the long run, if in any respect.”
The studio house, which presently homes their motorbikes, can be a boon. “The pend implies that our bike space is related to the home somewhat than caught away in a garage on the backside of the backyard. So we are able to do the issues we get pleasure from, like engaged on our bikes, in our own residence. The home design permits us to be far more fluid in what we do and be related in no matter we do,” says Kathy.
“And it is so related to the panorama,” concludes Kathy. “Once you come house from work and look out the home windows to see the solar setting, there’s such a way of aid and a sense of ‘I am house.'”
Find out how to design a dementia-friendly house
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After attending a course on dementia-friendly design at Stirling College, architect Ann Nisbet was wanting to translate this data right into a residential setting. Listed here are a few of the key ideas she integrated:
1. Contemplate navigational cues:
Analysis exhibits that somebody with dementia will learn their environment in another way. Two supplies of comparable mono-tonal color could also be learn collectively and be seen as the identical object. For instance, a rug on the ground that may be a contrasting tonal color to the flooring, may very well be learn as a gap within the ground. Somebody with dementia could attempt to soar over the rug and doubtlessly damage themselves.
2. Select distinctive doorways and window frames:
If a rest room door is similar tonal color because the wall, somebody with dementia could not have the ability to discover the door. Opening door frames ought to be a unique tone from the window frames to sign that they’re doorways somewhat than home windows.
3. Contemplate direct strains of sight for improved orientation:
There’s a direct line of sight from the grasp mattress to the bathroom and a central circulation zone to allow all elements of the constructing to be seen from one level – to enhance orientation inside the constructing. From the connection foyer, you possibly can see all key areas of the constructing, which helps with navigating the ground plan and hopefully prevents confusion.
4. Set up clear kitchen options:
The kitchen units are designed for dementia – there are slots (like letterboxes) permitting somebody with dementia to see that there are cups/plates/meals within the drawers. In any other case, the mind doesn’t perceive that there’s something behind the drawer/cabinet.