Woodend Cottage | Gavin Kirk

The cottage has had several extensions and alterations throughout its life and the aim of the project is to maintain the historical characteristics and quirks whilst maximising the fabulous views over the city. The brief was to design a new kitchen and living extension whilst reworking the existing internal layout and modernising the cottage throughout. The original street wall forms the rear elevation and a decision was made to improve light into this area and form a new entrance as the cottage had little street frontage.

The proposal creates a new extension in the middle of the house to allow a division between the social living spaces and the private rooms in the house. The new kitchen and living area is accessed through a linking dining area which also has access to the existing lounge. The open plan dining space is double height with a new staircase accessing the first floor. An existing cold and damp external store is to be reconstructed to create a home office which will have a raised floor to provide views across Perth. The alterations will be clad in corten steel. The steel is burnt orange in colour and sits well with the tones and textures of the existing stone cladding and surrounding landscape. There will also be large areas of glazing to link the house to the garden and provide views beyond.