The Loan

The site was purchased with planning consent for a detached house almost identical to its neighbours. It is designed on a tight site to take advantage of the long views to Corstorphine Hill. The client negotiated a contract with the builder and gave Studio DuB free rein within the given parameters of the existing consent. We retained the eaves and the ridge height but totally reworked the previous design leaving nothing but the silhouette. Roof and wall have been cloaked uniformly in man-made slate. Inside the standard two storey arrangement has been transformed into three levels: a ready-made loft conversion. The exposed ring beam structure was designed to free the volume of roof trusses allowing a gallery to engage with the living area. To minimise energy consumption this is an insulated timber frame house served by underfloor heating throughout. A granny-flat on the ground floor is kept discrete from the main accommodation above. Overgrown dormers cantilever to the front punctuating the entrance whilst a terrace to the rear provides sightlines right through the main volume. By reinterpreting a design standard whilst keeping the envelope, this project attempts to revive the suburban typology.

Project team:
Gordon Duffy
Przemyslaw Konopka
Maysam Al Nasser
Dalia El Mardi

Photographers:
Gordon Duffy;
Paul Edwards;
Rebecca Wober