The most romantic bothy in Scotland? Hideaway nestled on Eriskay coast wins top design award
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Bard Architects, an architectural design company based in Glasgow, has been awarded a top award from the Glasgow Institute of Architects for its cutting edge bothy ‘Taigh Bainne’ in Eriskay.
The structure commissioned by the Laverty family, who also earned themselves an award from the GIA for ‘Client of the Year’, presents itself as a modern bothy with a cosy interior and exceptional views overlooking Eriskay’s Princes beach.
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Hide AdBard, the firm responsible for the design, set out to redefine the former stone structure which was thought to have been a small dairy and potentially a home prior to that. Tucked away on the windswept Eriskay coastline, the four-year-old firm looked to reinvigorate the stone structure while maintaining its connection to its rustic heritage and surroundings.
The Laverty family commissioned the firm after its success in executing other, similarly cutting edge designs across Scotland and particularly on the Western Isles, and looked to local joinery company Coastal Homes – headed up by joiner Paul MacInnes – to bring the creation to life.
On its website, the GIA said of Bard’s success in redesigning the eye-catching Eriskay ruin that: "By constructing new frames within, these walls were adapted to form a small bothy to be used as a retreat and place of contemplation. It is now another onlooker to its immense surroundings with a renewed purpose.”
They added of the Laverty Family, who won the GIA’s first ever award for clients commissioning new architecture around Scotland, that: “The humanity shown by the client towards their design team, contractors and their new community that they are part of is reflected in the architecture.”
In a post on its Facebook page, Bard highlighted the key features of their recreation. They said: “Taigh Bainne (the dairy) is built from local materials: reclaimed Ballachulish slate; turf from the Croft and the stone of the ruin built back to original height.
“The result is the process of excellent collaboration and willingness between Paul MacInnes and his brother Duncan, who built the bothy the clients Andy Laverty and family and ourselves. Since completion, we are enamoured watching the building change and improve with the actions of time as well as the response of the local community as it takes on a new significance", they added.
Andy Laverty, who commissioned the design from Bard, said: "We wanted [Taigh Bainne] to be very comfortable and contemporary on the inside, but sympathetic to the original building and its surroundings. The key criteria for building it was to have someone from the Islands build it – I wanted to create new relationships and friendships up there which is what has happened with the bothy.”
He added that while he was delighted to receive the Client of the Year award from the GIA, “it feels a bit odd to be nominated as client of the year, it should really be ‘collaboration of the year’” – nodding to the joint efforts of himself, Paul Macinnes and Ruairidh Moir of Bard.