Melamar
A rural family home designed with natural materials – and little environmental impact.
A rural family home designed with natural materials – and little environmental impact.
A contemporary home rooted in the rural landscape, Melamar thoughtfully and innovatively integrates natural materials, energy efficiency, and comfort in perfect harmony.
Perched above a small burn, our design has enhanced the home owner’s experience of the site – defined by long views over fields to the south and west – and transformed their quality of life.
The striated Scottish Caithness stone walling defines the formal public realm, creating a solid – yet textured – mass. This is balanced by a softer, naturally weathered timber rainscreen cladding that wraps around the rest of the building to subtly reflect the nearby rows of mature deciduous trees.
Inside, the space is just as open and calming. Two angled bay windows are strategically positioned in the principal rooms, maximising sunlight, framing views of the hills, and guaranteeing peaceful privacy.
Focused on minimising environmental impact, the predominant use of bio-based materials demonstrates extremely low embodied carbon – and provides absolute comfort. Melamar is certified to the exacting Passivhaus standard.
The homeowners were keen to avoid contributing to the impacts of climate change in many ways – one being reducing dependency on car travel. So, along with a full switch to electric vehicles, we designed a home office and gym. And with efficient spatial planning and compact services, the west-facing photovoltaic panels with battery storage largely power the house.
Architectural artistry is meticulously combined with energy efficiency, excellent indoor air quality, and a holistic approach to sustainability. It’s modern, functional living – centred around ecological and social responsibility.
“We love living in our new home. We wanted to reduce our carbon footprint and aiming for Passivhaus standard seemed the obvious way to do that. It’s obviously a huge privilege to be able to live somewhere specifically designed for our needs, and we may be biased, but our home is perfect for us. Even after a year, it continues to bring joy when we come home.
Having experienced all the seasons now, the house has been very comfortable winter and summer and performs extremely efficiently. We had 10 adults and 7 children in the house for Christmas and didn’t need any heating on.
We were a bit worried that maintaining two electric cars would make it a bit more challenging, especially with work commutes. However, the set up we have with the solar panels, home battery and a favourable tariff with Octopus has made it quite straightforward. Running costs have been incredibly low, and although Mhairi did tell us that would be the case, it has still been a very pleasant surprise!
The whole process of self building has been hugely rewarding, though we can take very little credit! The whole team have done an amazing job and we have come out the other side with an incredible family home which will hopefully allow us to live sustainably for the future.”—Melamar, Homeowner
Passivhaus Certifier
Etude
Engineers
Narro Associates
Embodied Carbon (A-C)
393 KgCO2eq/m2
RIAS Stirling Society of Architects
Sustainability Award 2024
Winner
