An Architects’ Laboratory: A Self-Built Cottage in the Scottish Highlands

In the conservation village of Plockton, on the shores of Loch Carron in the Scottish Highlands, architects Colin and Megan Baillie of Baillie Baillie Architects completed a compact holiday house that reinterprets the traditional Highland crofters’ cottage through a low-tech, plastic-free approach. Called Iorram, the 410-square-foot self-build occupies a tight infill site and takes its cues from the practical logic of rural buildings: thick walls, clay plaster, and local timber.

The cottage is built with monolithic clay block walls finished in lime harling and clay plaster. Locally felled Highland Douglas fir is used throughout, from the exposed structure to the interior walls and custom joinery, while leftover offcuts were repurposed into mortise-and-tenon doors and cabinetry. Despite its modest footprint, Iorram is unexpectedly generous. With spare interiors and a considered palette, the project also served as something of a laboratory for the architects—an opportunity to test ideas about craftsmanship, material sourcing, and a more direct approach to building.

Photography by Jim Stephenson for Baillie Baillie, except where noted.

For more Scottish architectural projects, see our posts:

• Dinner on the Moors: A Rustic, Off-the-Grid Cottage in the Scottish Highlands
• Lamb’s House: A Masterful Restoration of a 17th Century Home (Once Visited by Mary Queen of Scots)
• In Scotland, A Luxe Nature Retreat from a Danish Billionaire