PROJECTS :: Restalrig Avenue, Edinburgh

This semi-detached bungalow required a considerable amount of upgrading work when purchased in 2000. The kitchen and bathroom virtually dated right back to 1930, when the house was built. The garden was also overgrown and impenetrable and required almost as much work as the structure did.

The kitchen was also very small and its relationship with the garden poor. A side door with several steps led down to the rear of the house, making it possible to see the garden out of the windows but made it difficult to access for little children and impossible to supervise.

The kitchen was therefore reworked completely, with a new contemporary extension added, creating an open plan kitchen and living space at garden level. This new room allowed free and level access to the garden, plenty of sunlight even on cold winter days and a safe environment for the children to play. A modern rooflight at the edge of the flat roof looks out to the west, offering glimpses over to Carlton Hill and permitting the low winter sun to penetrate deep into the heart of the kitchen.

The structure was timber frame, with a render finish to reduce the wall thickness and maximise the space available. The floor is concrete with underfloor heating. Aluminium copes create an overhang and a thin edge to the wallheads, while at night they reflect the lights.

The garden has been created over the last three years and is still not finished. It was very overgrown in 2000 and despite nearly two years of clearance work, many of the shrubs have been retained to try and leave a feeling of maturity from the outset. It is actually quite small - just 24m x 14m, but it is south facing and sheltered. All the beds around the grass have been replanted. Across a small bridge, a mature hedge across the garden was retained to hide children's play equipment and enclose a woodland garden, much of which is planted with spring flowers.

© Grant Bulloch Architect 2009