the project

We are always delighted to work on grand Scottish buildings such as this. But to extend this significant detached Arts and Crafts style house and meet the expectations of the client, we needed to overcome a few issues typical of refurbishing and extending a historic building. 

The client’s impressive vision to enlarge the house and make it suitable for luxury 21st-century family living, complete with indoor pool, gym and an easy indoor-outdoor lifestyle has given us scope for imaginative yet sympathetic architectural ideas. 

The issues to overcome include managing a modest entrance and creating more space in a series of public rooms which were not designed for modern living – today we put emphasis on open, flowing informal spaces with multipurpose uses. We also needed to add a dramatic light-filled contemporary extension that remains in keeping with the style of the original house. 

 

 

 

 

How we worked

In order to find the right orientation and layout of the extension, we concentrated on 4 key points: 

  1. The quality of flow and how new rooms would successfully integrate with the existing house and rooms. 
  1. The quality of natural light for the new rooms and their connection to the view and garden. 
  1. The ideal scale of the new rooms, including the sense of drama that our client desired. This meant moving away from a smaller Arts and Crafts room aesthetic and bringing in large airy spaces to align with our client’s ambitions. 
  1. The success of how the new extension joins the older building, so that both flow into each other. 

We were given freedom to lead the brief initially. Once initial ideas were in place, we collaborated with the client to build on the ideas together to create a home aligned with his family’s needs and desires for an exceptionally spacious, luxurious and enjoyable home.  

Roof junctions and pitches were a challenge as they are an important detail in the Arts and Crafts style. Because the two spaces were quite different in scale, we made extensive use of CGI modelling to communicate our ideas in 3D form to the client. This allows the client to truly see what the design is like and means decisions can be taken with more confidence.   

 

 

Success of the project

This project is ongoing. We are confident that the additions and alternations to this significant Arts and Crafts house will enhance it greatly, making it a truly luxurious family home complete with the best 21st-century recreation facilities. 

 

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