June 2007, Homes and Interiors Scotland
By Fiona Reid
Margaret and Roy Clark may describe their conservatory as a "timber and glass box" but its stunning design and innovative use of space has made it an extraordinary addition to their home.
It's a regular observation from architects - or perhaps, more to the point, from the architects' spouses or partners - that when it comes to working on their own homes, it's often a case of cobblers' bairns, the argument being that once you get caught up in professional projects and client's concerns, nothing ever gets done at home.
Margaret and Roy, director at the Dundee-based office of Baxter, Clark & Paul, live in a converted B-listed house dating from 1860, which is now split into three properties - the Clarks live in what was once a gardener's cottage. The house has two distinct facades: the courtyard as you drive in with the former stables and the coach house on one side, now owned by Margaret's sister, and another attached cottage owned by a neighbour; then through the archway, one discovers the more formal side of the building with its beautiful red sandstone and leaded windows, and with the bell tower high above.
 The couple knew they wanted to extend their wing of the property from day one. Thanks to the height of the windows, there was no eye-line view to the garden when sitting in the rear living room or dining room and the mature rear garden that encloses the house is a fantastic space, so losing this view was doubly frustrating. There was no direct physical access to the garden either; instead you had to go through the courtyard and archway to reach it. "We had 20 years of passing plates out of the dining-room window whenever we wanted to eat outside," Margaret recalls.
The couple met with Virginia Murray, of Mozolowski & Murray, after seeing another conservatory the company had designed for a house outside Edinburgh. "I realized it was time to bite the bullet," Roy admits. He worked on the design in consultation with the company's Stephen Batrick - Roy knew he wanted a bold response that would be both sympathetic to the existing building yet distinct. The pastiche approach was never on the cards; rather the conservatory appears to punch out from the rear of the house. "The planning department did have some concerns initially," he aknowledges, "but my argument was this is a glass and timber box bolted on to the house and if someone comes along in 50 years and wants to remove it, they can as it won't have affected the house in any way."
 Today's conservatory is much more than a "box", however: it is a dramatic space with an incline ridge roofline that culminates in a pronounced peak, producing an overhang to the glazed space below. The roofline's graphic shape pays homage to the visitor centre at Arbroath Harbour, which Baxter, Clark & Paul also designed, and its construction presented a new challenge for Mozolowski & Murray as the roof twists over a length of around six metres from 45 degrees at one end to 30 at the other, creating its distinctive shape.
The roof's slate tiles tie in visually with the house, while the glazed rooflight within it, which looks small when viewed from the elevated terrace outside, is anything but when inside. It floods light into the space, as do the glazed front and side elevations. This glass rooflight (or lantern) has worked very well, Roy says, having been made larger than in the original design to maximise the light: "On a summer's morning, the sun comes in through the lantern and bounces off the glass wall back into the dining room. This dining space has always been in the shadows but now it's illuminated and it adds another dimension that was never anticipated."
 The flow created between the internal kitchen, dining space and garden room was intended from the beginning, however. The kitchen was the first space to be refitted and the yew timber units create a warm glow with the downlighting, while the dining room was refurbished last year with the addition of a lowered timber panelled "floating" ceiling (a variation on the ceiling in the master bedroom) which Roy designed, enhancing the sense of warmth and intimacy within the space while accentuating the contrast with the airy and voluminous garden room.
Dark porcelain flooring retains the architectural crispness of the conservatory in a way that timber flooring would not have, and the furniture including the classic Maralunga leather armchairs, reflects the quite masculine simplicity of the space. Externally this effect is softened by the muddy green of the timber (painted using Sadolins Superdec Trust Green), which was chosen to match the building's existing window frames.
Underfloor heating has made the conservatory a year-round space while the extensive glazing results in good solar gain, even on colder days. "This space tends to be the focus of the house now," says Margaret. "When I sit here, I always think I could stay all day." The couple can now enjoy the garden views, while there's also an enclosed storage space to one side with a sink, added for practicality. "This shows what can be done with a building of this age and character," says Roy. "You can never replicate what was there, so being contemporary is the way to go."
|
|