Bothy Stores
Off-grid timber hideaway nestled in the inspirational Scottish landscape.
About this project
Located close to the west coast of Scotland, the Inverlonan bothies offer visitors the chance to disconnect from the day-to-day and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the remote landscape. Overlooking Loch Nell, the cabins are only accessible by boat, foot or buggy, ensuring a relaxing experience far away from the crowds.
The timber-built lodges emulate traditional Scottish bothies which provided shelter from the elements for anyone who needed it. Comfortably finished with a wood-burning fire together with beautifully hand-crafted furnishings, the bothies offer rustic comfort for visitors and a space for relaxation, creativity or exploration.
Modern construction for a traditional design
Provided by Bothy Stores, the Inverlonan bothies were constructed from sheets of OSB (oriented strand board) which were precision-cut with a CNC machine before being fully insulated with mineral wool and sealed into closed panel cassettes.
Bothy Stores offers both a prefabricated option and a flat pack option to customers. Prefabricated bothies are assembled at the Bothy Stores workshop in Fife, and are suitable for delivery to site by a low-bed HIAB truck which must be able to pull alongside the site.
However, due to its remote location, Inverlonan Estates opted for the flat pack option as the lightweight cassettes can be either carried or transported to site by off-road vehicle.
Once transported to site, the system is very fast to construct, which means the bothies could be put together and made water-tight within a day. This reduced construction time on site, minimising impact on the landscape and the risk of disruption by adverse weather.
Once the bothy shells were installed onsite, Inverlonan’s team of local carpenters completed the fit-out to the high specification required.
Use of timber
The team at Bothy Stores is committed to using sustainable, innovative materials and construction techniques.
The bothies’ shells were constructed from Medite Smartply OSB mineral wool insulated boards which were precision-manufactured by digital fabricators BlokBuild.
Inverlonan chose English Oak for the gable end cladding and decking, which was supplied by Vastern Timber. The interiors were completed with Russwood’s pre-finished engineered oak flooring in ‘original’ and the walls lined with traditional clay plaster from Clayworks. The external walls and roofs are clad with corrugated steel.
A social enterprise for artist mobility
Bothy Stores is a social enterprise which was set up in 2017 by artist Bobby Niven and architect Iain MacLeod, to provide a network of off-grid residencies for artists. Every Bothy purchased helps to fund opportunities for artists and researchers to access the Scottish landscape.
Bothy Stores is supported by Scottish Enterprise and Social Investment Scotland. The development of the Artist Bothy was supported by Susanna Beaumont.
Further information:
Images credit: Artist Bothy by Bothy Stores, installed at Inverlonan