Ahead of the curve

David and Rosie Reid have self-built in Scotland taking inspiration from Passivhaus designs to create their new curved home -

- Caroline Ednie

When David and Rosie Reid were looking to build a low-energy home that would make the most of spectacular views to Loch Leven and the Lomond Hills in Fife, they were realistic about the scale of the task ahead. "We'd never done this before, so it was excitement and dread at the same time. With a project like this, you're just not sure how it's going to end up!" says David.

Their dream received a turbo-powered boost when the couple managed to find and purchase a plot in April 2017. This rare find was a rural greenfield site that not only enjoyed spectacular views of the surrounding Perthshire countryside but already had planning consent for a new-build home.

DESIGNING AN UPSIDE-DOWN HOUSE

The couple's main motivation in terms of their new home was to create a building that would be "sympathetic to the site," says David. "We're planning on being here a very long time, so it was important that the house worked for us. We wanted an upsidedown house with the main open-plan living areas upstairs, and the private spaces downstairs. Also, we didn't want a conventional door at ground level - we were keen to create the main entrance on the upper level.

"We also thought, how about building a house without any heating?"," David continues. "So it had to be as low energy as possible. We wanted to follow Passivhaus principles." At this stage the couple began to research architects and eventually found an ideal fit in Glasgow-based Ewan Cameron Architects (ECA) during an online search.