"Unpretentious, lovely human scale" says commenter

In this week's comments update, readers are discussing a cottage in the Scottish Highlands finished with a natural material palette of local timber, clay plaster and earthenware tiles. Designed by Baillie Baillie Architects, the one-bedroom home in Plockton was envisioned as a contemporary interpretation of the traditional cottages often found in the Scottish Highlands. "The The post "Unpretentious, lovely human scale" says commenter appeared first on Dezeen.

Mar 28, 2025 - 13:08

"Unpretentious, lovely human scale" says commenter

In this week's comments update, readers are discussing a cottage in the Scottish Highlands finished with a natural material palette of local timber, clay plaster and earthenware tiles.

Designed by Baillie Baillie Architects, the one-bedroom home in Plockton was envisioned as a contemporary interpretation of the traditional cottages often found in the Scottish Highlands.

Scottish cottage finished with natural materials — Iorram cottage explores "a distinctly Scottish approach to natural materials"

"The raw detailing is very appealing"

Dezeen readers were drawn to the design, with BBOB calling it "just perfect!" and Design Junkie simply stating "wood is good".

IDRACULA said that the cottage had an "unpretentious, lovely human scale". They continued to say: "Like this a lot. Classic finishes. Excites the senses."

Jb reflected that "the raw detailing is very appealing", while Souji thought it was "simply lovely (besides the roof material choice)", before adding "love the rustic feel".

But not all readers were quite so smitten, with Tom Roberts writing: "I really find the knotty wood distracting."

Are you a fan? Join the discussion ›

Kengo Kuma cafe with mesh roof — Kengo Kuma cloaks "ethereal cafe" in Fukuoka with mesh canopy

"The ordinariness of this building is thinly veiled"

Another story causing a stir in the comments section this week was an earthquake-resistant, "ethereal cafe" in Fukuoka, Japan, enveloped by a steel and mesh web-like canopy.

For Jb, "box plush mesh does not add up to architecture."

"The ordinariness of this building is thinly veiled," added The Discreet Architect.

AlfredHitchcock agreed, commenting: "The fabric canopy, which appears to perform absolutely no function whatsoever might be ethereal, but the rectangular shoebox below the canopy certainly isn't."

Do you agree? Join the discussion ›

Concrete brutalist house Portugal — Brutalist hilltop home evokes an "ancient ruin"

"Brutalism is back"

Also gaining plenty of attention in the comments section this week was a brutalist home in Portugal, designed with board-marked concrete walls by Pedro Domingos Arquitectos.

"Call me a troglodyte, but I love a raw, primitive space," put forward JZ.

Commenter DH also had nothing but praise for the project, calling it "exquisite", before declaring "brutalism is back – finally".

"Nothing a few throw pillows and a concentrated artillery barrage couldn't fix," wrote Karl. Taking a similar stance, BrettS said: "There's an awful lot of remnant WW2 gun emplacement about it."

Ricardo Laje also wasn't convinced, writing: "I love the raw look of the pictures and the geometry but I'm not sure if I would like to live there."

What do you reckon? Join the discussion ›

Comments Update

Dezeen is the world's most commented architecture and design magazine, receiving thousands of comments each month from readers. Keep up to date on the latest discussions on our comments page and subscribe to our weekly Debate newsletter, where we feature the best reader comments from stories in the last seven days.

The post "Unpretentious, lovely human scale" says commenter appeared first on Dezeen.