Spence House is a semi-detached Lorimer-esque house sitting just above Colinton Village, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. This project is an enlargement of the existing kitchen creating a room with a strong visual and physical connection to the rear garden.

White harling has been used externally at the re-built kitchen to achieve visual continuity with the existing rear elevation. The stained hardwood ‘pavilion’, slipped into this harled block extends the original footprint of the removed part. This single element frames the view of the garden, provides a point of access to it, and marks a place for sitting within the enlarged room. The garage end wall re-built in dark blue engineering brick completes the tripartite composition.

The top of the garden provides a place to enjoy the late afternoon sunlight. This west light is caught through both the screen of folding/sliding doors and at the linear rooflight. Daylight is also introduced via a rooflight in the shower room, bringing life to varied green mosaic tiling and slate flooring at the garden entrance. Here, the quality of light makes the space feel part of the garden rather than the house.