Glenwood

Glenwood is a Category B listed property in the Edinburgh’s Craiglockhart area. Originally designed in 1931, Glenwood is uniquely significant as the very first commission of Kininmonth and Spence, founded by William Kininmonth and Sir Basil Spence, two of Scotland's foremost 20th-century architects.

Owned by only two families since its construction, the historic home has been sensitively updated for the 21st century. Our brief was to remodel the north range of the property’s former service accommodation, replacing it with a modern, open-plan kitchen, living and dining space that visually and physically connects the home to its private rear garden.

The design of the new extension was born out of a fascinating historical tension in British domestic architecture. While Spence and Kininmonth designed the Arts and Crafts-inspired Glenwood, drawing on their time in the office of Edwin Lutyens, they were simultaneously working on 'Lismhor' across the city, a radical, Bauhaus inspired modernist composition.  

We used this juxtaposition as the conceptual starting point for the new addition. The sweeping, curved form of the new extension acts as a contemporary counterpoint to the straight lines of the original house, developing the modernist ideas that Kininmonth and Spence explored later in their careers, including Spence’s iconic work on Coventry Cathedral and the 1951 Festival of Britain.

A sweeping, zinc clad curved roof floats lightly over predominantly glazed walls, its low eaves line focusing attention outward into the garden. A solid, timber clad circular drum visually pins the roof to the ground, serving as the pivot point around which the internal spaces are organized. To capture natural warmth and light in an otherwise north facing space, a band of south facing clerestory glazing traces the path of the sun, creating a dynamic, ever changing atmosphere below.

By introducing the modernist theme of playing a curve against the straight lines of the original house, we are making a clear distinction between old and new in a considered and deliberate act. Materials pay respect to the original house, but the construction is resolutely 21st century in its use of technologically advanced building systems. We hope that the contextual respect, sculptural forms, solar design, and exceptional workmanship would have excited Kininmonth and Spence if they could see it today.

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