THE LEAN-TO, HALF-BOAT ROOF SHED

The classic Shetland sixareen used as a roof has been written about – see: https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2013/03/skaw-boat-house.html  While this re-use of the whole boat inverted as a roof is the idea in its most pure form, there are other variations. One is to halve or truncate the boat-roof and expose its beautiful cross section as a pointed, ogee arch in the shed end wall with a door in it. This approach solves the awkwardly tricky inclusion of the door with the whole boat fitted on stone walls. Such shortened boats have been used for garages, sheds, and pig-sties. They never fail to surprise.

There is no indication from the first glimpse that the shed has a lean-to

There is another approach that is the most unusual. This divides the boat along its length. One example is on Unst, on the road north. If one turns right and takes the road into Norwick instead of veering left to drive up the narrow road to Skaw, the location of the classic sixareen shed referenced above, one comes across an astonishing half-boat shed. Further along this track into Norwick, one turns right again up to the high Norwick cemetery that dominates the skyline of this little settlement. The shed is not immediately apparent, as it is concealed in a clutter of croft buildings that sit on a bend in the road: then it appears, on the track at the wide driveway entrance to a new, large shed behind it, at Sunnydale.

Norwick cemetery

Images of the Sunnydale shed from the Internet (above and below)

Shed from above

Norwick cemetery high above

At first appearances, this is a typical traditional boat shed. It is illustrated as such on the Internet without any obvious indication of the lean-to, and without the new shed at the rear; but keep driving and one is soon surprised to discover a lean-to structure behind the curvaceous facade. Driving back from the cemetery, the reverse occurs. With this approach from above, there is no evidence at all that the boat roof exists. One sees only the marvellous shambles created by time and necessity. This is typical croft inventiveness making a wonderful collage that includes the half- boat that appears in all its sculptural elegance only as one passes. This building complex is the equivalent of the black-and-white theatrical mask.

Norwick cemetery dominates

The whole is an astonishing assembly. One wonders: why halve the boat? Was it intended to make two sheds? Unlike the cross cut concept, the linear, longitudinal cut hardly makes easy sense as it truncates the spine of the boat, challenging its structural integrity. The cross-sectional cut breaks the boat in parallel with its structural ribs that still maintain their integrity. The long cut halves the ribs.

So why do it? One might speculate that this Sunnydale roof was originally a classic boat roof shed that has been developed, expanded to give more space. The small croft houses that traditionally were enlarged linearly, with byre and barn added to one end with an ever decreasing gabled height, have more recently been expanded, less elegantly, with the lean-to roof. Sometimes the lean-to starts from the ridge; on other occasions it springs from the lower gutter edge. The once-beautiful hall at Uyeasound was expanded with the lean-to/ridge approach so that its original form and character are no longer recognisable.

Typical Shetland croft

Uyeasound Hall, Unst

Lean-to, Burravoe

Was the Norwick boat-roof shed too small? Did its use outgrow its limitations in size that were defined by the available boat? Is the remainder of the boat still substantially in tact under the lean-to? Given the crofter's apparently ad hoc solutions to problems as they arise, the approach that has given us the wonderful 'mess' we see today, it is highly likely that parts of the boat still exist as sundry pieces inside, trimmed to free up the available height under the lean-to after the dismantling of the stone wall below it.

The Shetland crofter rarely throws anything out. One told me, somewhat in jest, that it takes on the average about ten to fifteen years for something to become useful again. His shed seems to have sufficient items for many years to come. The 're-use' idea is an interesting observation, as it is a theory that gets proven repeatedly, even when one is not trying to confirm anything. This little lean-to, half-boat roof shed is the proof that there is value in recycling and adaptation, even that demanded by necessity. It is an art that we seem to admire now only for its visual quirkiness rather than as an example of what is practically possible.

We need to rediscover the art of architecture as collage, not as some 'hippie,' green shambles, but as a part of our everyday awareness of our world and its limitations. We need to come to understand the necessity of recycling beyond the extremes of the games of some slick TV show, (making money or quaint huts from trash collected at the dump), and outside of the 'mad hatter's' personal version of a life made from nothing but discards. In between these limits lies the ordinary wonder of the collage as a part of everyday living.

When the crofter came to see who was photographing his place and why, (he can be glimpsed in the top photograph on the far right of the frame on his way), he assumed that I was referring to his big, slick, new building when I commented on how much I admired his shed. I should have called it his 'lean-to, half-boat roof' shed. To him, this wonderful collage was just a part of his natural world, not worth commenting on. His large, recently-constructed shed: well, that's different. His only problem with it was the cunning resident rat that repeatedly avoided every trick he used to catch it. I suggested some new bait might be attractive: chocolate with peanut paste - simply irresistible.

Are we programmed to talk only about the new, the big, and the different? Maybe this is the problem of the search for things grandly bespoke that we seem to suffer today? Will a naive building complex like this lean-to, half-boat roof shed at Norwick ever again be possible in a world outside of some exhibitionist’s unique project fabricated for difference alone, as smart performance architecture suitable for glossy magazines and McCloud's Grand Designs?

BOAT ROOFS

A Lerwick garage

Dunrossness Croft House Museum

The sad fate of the boat-roof sheds