The Tea Hut

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A 9m x 4m elevated polygonal occasional use leisure building, projecting over the sea. The Tea Hut was built at the landward end of steel rails and slid seaward when finished. The building is glazed all round and has a glazed floor panel, giving stunning views down and across Loch Fyne. The superstructure comprises a galvanised steel frame consisting of thin roof and floor plates separated by an offset steel shear/torsion core and slender perimeter columns; timber carcassing to form the roof pyramid, and full height double glazing all round.

Judge's comment:

The judges felt that this modest building, in beautiful surroundings and overlooking a lake was an excellent example of intelligent, understated structural engineering. The simplicity of the solution and its apparent lightness of touch have allowed the Tea Hut to appear almost weightless and certainly unobtrusive as it sits delicately on the embankment. The submission showed the way that the engineers had considered a number of relevant options and were always mindful of the way that each could be installed on a very constrained site. The final choice delivers a simple, legible structural cantilever system that allows the building to project effortlessly towards the water. The engineers are to be congratulated on achieving so much with so little.