Dualchas Blackhouse in Major Permanent Exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland

A modern blackhouse by Dualchas Building Design is featured as part of a major permanent exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Scotland: A Changing Nation traces the varied experiences of people living and working in 20th-century Scotland through five major themes of modern life; war, industry, daily life, emigration and politic. As part of the daily life section the stone house at Upper Coll is used to demonstrate how a tangible link with the past still plays a significant role in modern living.

Owner Donna Barden, who built the house with her late husband Dr Alasdair Barden, says,

'We were striving to capture our ancestors' designs in a new house. We used stones that had previously been in old blackhouses so we took all the memories of old to our new home'

Alasdair Stephen, who founded Dualchas with his twin Neil in 1996, said it was an honour for the practice to have work featured in the museum.

'This was one of our first ever designs. It's amazing to see drawings produced on a table at our gran's house now in a glass case in Scotland's national museum.

'Our houses are now more cutting edge but this is still one of our best projects. We had wonderful clients, steeped in Gaelic heritage, who allowed us to show that the blackhouse is an appropriate building type for modern Scotland. We hope that the exhibition will inform a wider audience that our incredible built heritage includes simple vernacular housing as well as castles.'

For more information visit:

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/things_to_see/scotland_a_changing_nation.aspx

http://www.dualchas.com/index.php/Heritage/History.html

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