A compact Scottish home is a 'sunny place,' nestled into its thriving orchard setting

A Scottish home nestled within an existing settlement in rural Stirlingshire, Grianan is a new-build zinc residence by Cameron Webster Architects. The new residence was designed for clients Neil Smith and Wesley Zwiep, who are jewellery designers and owners of Orro Contemporary Jewellery in Glasgow’s West End. The plot, acquired in 2017, was initially an overgrown field, which the homeowners transformed into a garden which now blooms with over 10 varieties of Birch, Japanese Maple and a fruit orchard. Visiting wildlife includes pine martens, owls and woodpeckers.

Inside Grianan, a compact Scottish home

The couple reached out to Cameron Webster Architects to create a single-storey, two-bedroom compact home, where they could cosy up and enjoy their garden and its surrounding landscape of rolling hills. Grianan, which is Gaelic for 'sunny place', was designed to deliver that exact feeling - a private, joyful retreat that sits modestly within gardens, its clean and simple form highlighting its materiality.

‘There wasn’t a single inspiration point,’ shares architect Stuart Cameron, co-founder of Cameron Webster Architects. ‘It’s more about developing a plan to suit the site specifics and then considering appropriate materials from an aesthetic and budget point of view, and then detailing those elements to come together in a considered and controlled way.'

‘This produces a unique building. As with all our designs the inspiration is more about the use of materials and how they interface and connect with each other - how to turn a corner with a particular material for example, or how do we refine a detail that had been used before to make it better.’

The final design features a screened southeast entrance elevation, which adds an element of privacy. The high clerestory windows allow for sunlight to act as a dynamic actor in the home, as it dances around during different times of day and throughout the seasons. Cameron adds: ‘The house looks like it could be in Midwest America, it has that ranch feel in its horizontality.’

Inside the home, every area has been designed to work hard. The living spaces and two bedrooms seamlessly connect to each other. The interior finishes include black Thermopine timber boards of different widths and thicknesses, while the floors are polished concrete, coupled with black granite wall panels. Cameron’s favourite part is the kitchen, which he describes as ‘a celebration of joinery and detail’ (the oak veneers in the kitchen and bedroom have been expertly matched).

The architect wants visitors to feel a sense of wonder as they walk into the space, he explains: ‘As they enter the house via the solid entrance elevation, they will be faced with a wall of glass overlooking the client’s amazing garden and the distant views of the hills. [The aim is] to sense a welcoming, comfortable and much-loved home, put together in a careful and considered way.’

cameronwebster.com