Practice / Staff
john.brennan@ed.ac.uk
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Scotland’s Rural Home explores the foundations for resilient development in rural places. We can legislate for carbon reduction and promote good practice but unless we think carefully about the very nature of our homes and settlements, then change will always be something imposed rather than embraced. In this book I explore through nine buildings how land ownership, adaptation, community empowerment and even construction systems contribute to sustainable development. Greg Thomas in his review for the Fleming Collection notes that these stories of ‘Scotland’s rural homes, at their best, can reflect and furnish a vision of remote community as equalitarian, ecologically minded, and in harmony with its settings’. The houses are set firmly within historic, economic and social contexts and are much more than bolt holes from the urban. They are active participants in rural regeneration and others reflect, in a profound way, what authenticity really means in the countryside. Like architecture everywhere, they present a mirror to a society’s preoccupations and values.
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1
Scotland’s Rural Home, book cover.
Stephanie Crane
2
Nine story locations.
John Brennan
3
Building Typologies.
John Brennan
4
Worlds of Works: Fiscavaig.
Stephanie Crane
5
Sustainable Community: Gigha.
Stephanie Crane