Tackling a full-on self-build as both client and main contractor while holding down a full-time job is not for the faint-hearted. However, Mary Arnold-Forster, a principal in the successful and prolific Dualchas Building Design, a Skye-based architectural practice, is made of strong stuff. Indeed, the challenge of building an “experimental” home on an unserviced piece of land on the remote Sleat peninsula on the island in fact seems to have been fun for her.

“It was actually a good experience,” says Arnold-Forster. “Although I had to do it before and after work, so it took longer to complete — almost a year. But the Polish building team that I employed worked really hard, and when they all went home during August, I could catch my breath and get another trade in, and order materials. I think you need quite a bit of technical skill to be a contractor, but doing it this way saved me a lot of money.”

The impressive result is The Shed, named by Arnold-Forster in deference to the local, rural farm-building tradition, and created as “a place that combines a love of humble architectural sheds with modern technology to make a place that lots of people want to come and stay at”.

The Shed’s genesis began nearly 10 years ago, when Arnold-Forster came across a site with some of the best views over the Cuillin mountains and across the sea to Canna and Rhum.

She had to wait five years to buy the coveted quarter-acre site from a local crofter. Then it was down to raising the capital, which was achieved largely by selling her previous self-built home on the island, and securing planning permission. Arnold-Forster was finally ready to go in 2006.

She saw the project as not only a chance to carry out her ambition to build her own bespoke home, but also to serve as a testing ground for new ideas in site-sympathetic design and energy-efficiency.

Essentially, the £250,000 “experimental” house was constructed on a steel frame, which allows considerable depth in the walls. “The wall is about 2ft deep, much like a stone building. The steel has allowed me to create layers — starting from the inside there are the built-in bookshelves, then sliding doors, then a midge screen and, finally, shutters. I’ve also cantilevered the gable window within the wall like a stone gable, which is unusual for a new building. It’s an abstract idea that plays on traditional architecture,” explains Arnold-Forster.

The Shed’s agricultural aesthetic is defined by the extensive use of hardy, low-maintenance corrugated-steel sheeting in the roof and cladding, a decision that was precipitated by the storms of 2005, as was the construction of the rainscreen and external storm shutters of locally sourced Scottish larch. “I’m quite tough, but the storms were frightening,” Arnold-Forster explains. “There are three shutters altogether — two storm shutters on the front and a storage shutter on the back — and they are all hung off this steel frame. The storm shutters are like external curtains, and really help with the wind-chill factor. The steel shade also allows me to hang a solar shade over the sheets of glass on the south, to filter the sun in the summer.”

The simple rustic aesthetic of the exterior is also echoed in the interior — in terms of both space and material finishes. The Shed is arranged over two levels with an open-plan kitchen/dining and living area at the heart of the ground floor. A bedroom and bathroom are on the east side, and two further bedrooms are on the west. The upper level extends into the roof space, thanks to the spatial possibilities offered by the steel portal frame, which dispenses with the need for any ceiling straps or ties.

This part of the house has a living area in the west gable, which in turn leads up to the master bedroom, with en-suite bathroom, and a small office space on the landing.

“I didn’t want my laptop on the dining table any more, so I have the study. It’s small and on the landing, but I wanted to avoid corridors and halls and unusable space,” Arnold-Forster explains.

“Inside I’ve used only three materials: oak, which has been slightly bleached; slate-grey ceramic tiles, which look like concrete; and concrete itself. The oak is important, otherwise it would have been a grey-and-white interior.”

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