Renovation of a 19th century farm. Ardoch house by Moxon Architects

Description of project by Moxon Architects

Moxon Architects has transformed a collection of 19th-century agricultural buildings, creating a new guesthouse, glasshouse and artist’s studio for a private artist/architect client on a hillside farm settlement in the Cairngorms National Park, Aberdeenshire with impressive wide-ranging views over the River Dee and Lochnagar. Following a decade-long undertaking, the newly converted buildings have been restored and repurposed in keeping with the restoration of the owners’ main farmhouse residence.

Using a combination of traditional and contemporary construction methods each of the buildings have been transformed for the 21st-century and have been developed to meet modern standards of energy efficiency, while remaining sympathetic to the original craftsmanship and the surrounding Highland vernacular of the North East of Scotland.


Ardoch House by Moxon Architects. Photograph by Ben Addy.

Guesthouse Steading
The largest building on the site has been repurposed to give additional study and living space to the client’s main residence, while providing self-contained guesthouse accommodation for visiting friends and family. Beyond a principal entrance and kitchen space, a living room and study occupy one double-height wing of the solid ‘L’ plan granite and slate building, while a ground-level bathroom suite and upper-level loft bedroom complete the adjacent wing.

The architects have carefully rebuilt and restored the partially collapsed walls and roof of the original 19th-century cattle shed, inserting frameless glass within the original apertures to preserve the building’s vernacular detail and form. Using the pre-existing volumes as a template for the new living spaces, the interior has been fully insulated and lined with clay plaster to give a seamless, spacious feel, while oak joinery conceals modern appliances and fittings preserve a minimalist rural aesthetic. The bathroom features ceramic clad walls and dark black-grey Caithness slabs. A new roof emulates the original construction techniques, introducing a newly rationalized pyramidal geometry at the hip, while the hayloft entrance and ventilation slits for the former cattle byre define the guesthouse entrance.


Ardoch House by Moxon Architects. Photograph by Simon Kennedy.

Glasshouse
A formerly collapsed farm store and sheepfold at the rear of the site has been reinvented as a glasshouse, partially embedded into the bedrock of the hillside by a pre-existing retaining wall. The original granite structure now serves as the backdrop to vines and lemon trees, and as a thermal store, soaking up heat from the new southwest facing glass wall and roof that complete the enclosure. Steel portals support the roof, with large section Douglas fir fins define a sheltered external space at one end and a secluded exercise room at the other.

The glasshouse is the product of collaboration between the artist/architect owners, joiners Jacek and Waldi Zapała and steelwork fabricator Craig Monteith. Iteratively designed bespoke lighting is clamped to the glasshouse’s steel beams. 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, and internal condensation is collected by a copper gutter and distributed into a bay tree planter. Ventilation is adjusted by large opening hatches along the top back edge of the building while supplemental heating can be provided by a wood burning workshop stove.


Ardoch House by Moxon Architects. Photograph by Simon Kennedy.

Artist’s Studio
At the northern end of the glasshouse, a two-storey farmstead has been repurposed as a private studio for artist and designer Naomi Mcintosh. Formerly used to winter sheep, the granite steading has been sensitively converted, to provide a compact workshop, kitchen, wet room, and storage, using robust materials to retain its agricultural character.

“I believe that we are temporary caretakers for our home and have a responsibility to honour the hard work and craft that has gone before us. Every day I think about the craftsmanship that the original builders used; the consideration of the site, the beautiful and simple forms of the granite and the measured symmetry. I felt very strongly that I did not want to extend our small farmhouse. I wanted to retain all the original proportions and simplicity of the buildings but also wanted friends and family to be able to come and stay. The steading therefore is our house extension without extending our house. It has one bedroom and a space to be together.”

Naomi Mcintosh, speaking on the restoration.

“The completion of these three buildings marks the culmination of a ten-year project that celebrates the art of building and craftsmanship. It is testament to the robustness and resilience of the historic buildings that this is a project characterised by retention and repair. Where there are new interventions, they are modest yet highly crafted, and seek to emulate the craft, form, and rigour of the 170-year-old architectural fabric, that for a large part retains its integrity on the site. By spending time on site in all seasons, we developed the design and details to ensure that these once derelict buildings will survive for the next two hundred years to come”.

Ben Addy, founding director of Moxon Architects.