When the green-fingered owners of this Duddingston property briefed AGORA they were very clear: they wanted to reconfigure their bungalow so they could access nature all year around.
Nestled next to the craggy slopes of Holyrood Park, and opposite a tree-fringed golf course, the property’s location was spectacular. However, it was also on a corner plot, exposed on two sides to passing foot and vehicle traffic. Having recently moved from a large acreage in Fife the couple wanted the same lush surroundings but on a more manageable scale, creating a flexible space they could enjoy with friends and family (including two very active grandchildren!).
AGORA recommended that an isolated dining room to the front of the property become the couple’s evening sitting room, creating the opportunity to bring cooking and eating zones together in one large, knocked-through space to the back.
We also designed a small side extension (4m x 3m) to create a garden room, which abuts the original property to form a protected courtyard.
This contemporary addition outlined in sandstone and zinc is both a strong silhouette in its own right, and a permeable gateway to gardens and courtyard. Manufactured by local joiners R.F. Slight the slim-profile windows use Accoya timber. This modified wood offers great strength and stability which means the frames can remain slender even though double glazed. In other words it looks delicate but works hard, offering great heat retention.
Generous doors to both the south and north, full height feature windows and two roof lights frame views of gorse-covered peaks and golf club greenery, inspiring the owners’ work-in-progress oasis on the courtyard.
Since the project was completed they have put the inside and outside spaces to extensive test, from morning teas to late night dinner parties. Their striking Riddle & Coghill kitchen serves as mission control when the grandchildren come over, with its expansive island giving good views of back lawns, courtyard and garden room. And, when they are gone, they have a great variety of places to rest and recover, including the seating set-up in the garden room and their light-washed courtyard.
AGORA’s favourite features:
Design: It’s a luxury to have public rooms that face south, north and west, but in Scotland every ray of light counts, and if you can orientate your spaces to track the sun, do! The garden room and courtyard screen out the roads to reveal swathes of trees, sky and the rocky Sleeping Lion in Holyrood Park, as well as the lovely stonework.
Practical:
The specially insulated pocket door which separates the garden room from the kitchen, also fabricated by R.F. Slight. Despite the thermal properties of Accoya wood, Building Standards do not usually allow this much glazing in an extension of this kind, due to perceived heat loss (think old conservatories in winter!). This door allowed us to glory in glass and meet regulations; combined with underfloor heating it makes for a particularly cosy space.
