Scottish practice Loader Monteith Architects has used two volumes clad in locally-sourced black timber to extend this stone cottage in the Highlands.
Strone of Glenbanchor, which sits at the edge of the Cairngorms National Park in central Scotland, was originally built as a cottage for a crofter ? a person who would look after an area of agricultural land known as a croft, often for the owner of a large estate.
Strone Glenbanchor is a stone cottage in the Scottish Highlands
The clients originally commissioned the extension to create a holiday home for escapes to the remote setting, but have ended up moving in permanently following the project's completion in 2020.
Glasgow-based Loader Monteith designed the new forms to sit in harmony with the landscape and original building, with local planning laws dictating that any new interventions could be no larger than the original footprint. Loader Architects added a timber-clad extension
Previously, the cottage was dark and compartmentalised, with a small kitchen at its centre and two rooms with single windows at either side.
The project consisted of three primary moves: extending the existing cottage outwards with a new living area and upwards with a dormer extension, and adding a new "retreat wing" behind the main house that aimed to open up the spaces to the landscape.

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"Strone of Glen...