Located in a clearing on the fringes of the ancient Abernethy Forest, within the Cairngorm National Park, this project to renovate and extend a Victorian cottage shows how humble rural buildings can be adapted for contemporary living.
Project Name: Cairngorm Cottage
Studio Name: WT Architecture
Location: Inverness, United Kingdom
Photography: dapple photography
Completion date: 2017
After demolishing an older two-storey extension to free up level areas of the site facing the south-western sunlight, a new extension was conceived which played with the idea of living ‘outside’ the cottage in the landscape. The extension contains kitchen, living and dining spaces that wrap around the cottage on two sides, with the main orientation tilted to soften the angles and capture the most sunlight.
An intricately folded roof, rises and falls to flow with the changes in floor levels the sloping site, opening up views, capturing sunlight and defining the open-plan interior. All new spaces enjoy direct visual and physical connections with the garden, but still have a presence on the street frontage.
A previously awkward split-level ground floor was seen as an opportunity to create more practical front and rear entrances, and develop interesting circular routes through the house that knit the new and old spaces together. The lower portions of the existing house were completely reorganised to create a bright arrival hall, as well as new bathroom and utility room.
