Toors O'ythan

Crichton Wood has unveiled his exciting new project, 'Toors O'ythan' a collection of sixteen stunning houses nestled in the picturesque landscapes of Aberdeenshire. These homes are a testament to Crichton Wood's passion for Scottish heritage, particularly his deep admiration for the grandeur of Scottish castles and towerhouses. From a distance the clachan is clustered to create a subtle hierarchy of massing to create a picturesque silhouette on the skyline.

The houses are positioned to create a series of lanes, creating exciting spaces and views as you walk through and explore the clachan. Cars are deliberately kept to the boundaries of the site.

At its heart is a parterre in box, in plan taking the abstracted shape of the Pictish water beast “the Kelpie“. The form creates allotments for the residents and these provide an opportunity for meetings, as well as space to produce fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit.

Around the parterre is an orchard, planted with apple, pear and plum trees.

The Kelpie is surrounding by carefully positioned housing. The gardens are open to the East to allow the whole site to have views of the Ythan estuary.

Each house is carefully positioned in three dimensions to maximise the rich harmony of spatial relationships which, in turn, reinforces a sense of place and identity.

The detailing and architectural language of each house is evolved from my own modern interpretation of our own native Scots architectural language.

The housing units have been designed to have a mixture of types, from larger family 4 bedroom homes, to four tower houses, four bothies and four social housing units. Crichton commented: “Rather than the social housing being isolated they are at the heart of the site to create a Scots clachan hopefully with a little depth, a wee bit of soul and not a telling off from my grandfather!”

If you're eager to learn more about these exquisite builds or would like to arrange a viewing to experience their charm firsthand, we invite you to reach out to us.