This late 19th-century semi-detached property in the leafy Trinity suburb of Edinburgh benefits from an extensive garden to the rear, however - as can often be the case with Victorian villas - access between the house and its garden was cramped and circuitous.

The rear of the property featured an unusual arrangement, consisting of a functional ‘annex’ to the ground floor housing the kitchen and utility areas, with a generous bay window above giving views across the garden out to the Firth of Forth from the first floor. The focus of the project was to connect the living spaces at ground floor level with the garden beyond, and afford the same generosity of light and openness to the modern ground floor living spaces as benefits the rooms above.

Conceived of as an open, pergola-like structure between the solid masonry villa and its garden, the single storey annex was remodelled and extended to create a new garden room with direct access to the outdoors. Maintaining the existing datum set by the annex, the new intervention is clad in Scottish larch, which will naturally weather to complement the grey tones of the existing masonry.

The external timber fins sit on a plinth of reclaimed masonry from on-site downtakings, reducing construction waste and helping to embed the contemporary elements of the design within their historical context. A carefully-detailed masonry planter has been incorporated into the design, allowing foliage to sit right against the new full-height glazing, and blurring the transition between inside and out.

Photography by Angus Henderson, 2024