House at Balemartine
This project was for alteration and extension of an existing two-storey house on the coast of the Isle of Tiree. Our client’s brief was for creation of a light, bright kitchen/dining and living space within the existing barn space, with good connection to the modest garden space. The scheme was also to create an improved entrance space, lots of storage space and improved bathroom accommodation that could cater for returns from surfing and swimming trips.
We felt it was important to respect the existing mass and form of the building and to clearly express a distinction between the old and the new.
Two extensions are proposed to the two storey section of the building. To the front a new two storey pitched roof extension replaces the existing damp single storey porch, providing space for a spacious boot room and better connection to the central hallway. At first floor level a new family bathroom is created. Timber screening contrasts with the white render finish to visually tie the new interventions together as one coherent scheme.
A single-storey side extension is also proposed, wrapping around the gable and rear corner of the building to provide an en suite to the ground floor bedroom and external storage space. The new walls follow the line of the existing garden wall, with cladding expressed as sitting over the existing rendered wall level and vertical cladding extending beyond the line of the extension to form a sheltered space to sit to the garden, protected from the wind.
The open-plan living/dining/kithcen barn space is proposed to be re-roofed with an asymmetric pitch to form new clerestory windows to the rear elevation, allowing high levels of natural light into the space. The front elevation is opened up, flooding the space with light and allowing the space to spill out to the garden.
A simple palette of materials including white rendered masonry, natural timber cladding and timber screens aim to visually tie together the various interventions. Coastal planting and areas of beach pebbles intersperse with stone paving tying the garden in with both its surrounding landscape and the new, durable internal floor surfaces of the house.