Private Clients | Aberdeenshire, Scotland 2022-2023

At the rear of the Ardoch site a formerly collapsed farm store and sheepfold has been reinvented as a glasshouse, partially embedded into the bedrock of the hillside by a pre-existing retaining wall. The granite wall is now the backdrop to vines and lemon trees, acting as a thermal store soaking up heat from the southwest facing glass wall and roof that complete the enclosure. Steel portals support the roof, with large section douglas fir fins defining a sheltered external space at one end and a secluded exercise room at the other. Water for irrigation of plants is collected from the roof and stored in an internal tank which overflows to an external water butt carved from a windblown larch tree. Internal condensation above the doorway is collected by a copper gutter and discharged via a chain into a bay tree planter. Ventilation is adjusted by large opening hatches along the top back edge of the building while supplemental heating in winter can be provided by a wood burning workshop stove.