Working with the Scottish Borders Council, the NHS and Berwickshire Housing Association, OCA Studio designed 14 semi-detached houses and a shared services facility for people with a variety of support needs at Duns in the Scottish Borders.

+

The semi-detached dwellings feature steep dual-pitched roofs, which are set out to match the traditional slated roofs of the surrounding area, and a modern take on a traditional ‘cottage-style’ arrangement of door and window openings to the entrance façade; a visual identity deliberately developed to evoke the concept of ‘home’.

+

The idea of the cluster of dwellings was developed to encourage sociability, togetherness and community, while simultaneously permitting varying degrees of independence and privacy in line with the individual care needs of the occupants. An overarching colour and material palette characterises each building as part of the community, yet each is given its own unique twist, both in terms of design and materiality as well as physically in plan. This has the effect of creating a ‘tartan grid’ arrangement of built form and sheltered external space, the orientation of each house carefully considered to provide privacy and views out to the surrounding landscape, as well as connection to its neighbours. The scattered arrangement of small, pitched forms reflects the jumbled roofscapes of local villages, and helps to root the development in its rural context.

+

Contractors: JSL Swintons of Hawick
Care Service Providers: Community Integrated Care.
Photos: Angus Bremner and Paul Zanre