Moxon Architects references farmsteads for Corriebeg house extension in Scotland

Scottish studio Moxon Architects has extended a house in rural Aberdeenshire, adding two barn-like volumes that are clad in timber battens.

Named Corriebeg and located near the village of Sauchen, the project involved updating the existing home to meet rigorous Passivhaus standards while introducing a new living and dining space, a home office, a bedroom suite and an entrance hall.

Instead of expanding the existing structure's footprint, Moxon Architects distributed the additional spaces across two new gabled volumes. These are connected to the existing home and each other via a glazed link with a green roof.

The resulting cluster of buildings was designed not only to echo the farmsteads typical in the area, but also to offer the interiors better access to natural light and a variety of views out over the landscape.

"The extension is deliberately modest in scale and arranged as two simple volumes that sit comfortably alongside the original building, recalling the clustered form of nearby farmsteads," studio director Andrew Macpherson told Dezeen.

A new entrance hall sits tucked between the new and old volumes, opening into a skylit living and dining area divided by an exposed concrete fireplace.

A study sits centrally to the plan, with the new bedroom suite on one side. This suite projects slightly outwards to create an unobstructed corner window, with light and views controlled by a sliding timber shutter.

Within the footprint of the existing home, an expanded kitchen space sits alongside a utility room, bathroom and bedroom, with the first floor containing two further bedrooms.

Uniting the different buildings are external finishes drawn from typical agricultural buildings, including slate roofs and galvanised steel gutters. They are also clad in vertical and horizontal timber battens, typically used for structures, but used here as an external finish.

Concrete floors, white surfaces and plywood panelling define the interiors, with skylights in the high gabled ceilings creating a feeling of openness.

"The new spaces unlock the existing plan, establishing clearer circulation routes and uninterrupted lines of sight through the building," Macpherson explained.

"Daylight and views guide movement through the house, while built-in storage and window seats create comfortable places to pause and inhabit the edges of the space," he added.

As part of the project, the existing house and new additions were designed to meet the Passivhaus standard – an internationally recognised energy-performance standard that originated in Germany in the 1990s.

This was achieved using high levels of insulation, triple-glazed south-facing windows and louvres to control solar gain, as well as a mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system.

Moxon Architects was founded in 2004 by Ben Addy and is based in London and Crathie, Aberdeenshire. Previous projects by the studio include the conversion of a cluster of 19th-century outbuildings in the Highlands into a guesthouse and artist's studio and a "functional and graceful" bridge in the Scottish Highlands.

The photography is by Moxon Architects.

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