Keegan Flatman Residence

The new contemporary garden room at 4 Gardiner Road replaces a previous dilapidated conservatory on this Arts and Crafts semi in Edinburgh’s suburbs.

The external view offers a stainless steel-clad fin wall to the boundary, disguising an extension on the neighbouring property and draws the eye towards the internal space. The height here was determined by bringing the existing, external, sash and case windows indoors, which the client wished to retain unaltered, resulting in a high, bright, and dramatic open space.

The design takes on the form of a simple box, with Iroko sliding doors on two sides to the garden. The roof is nominally flat, of structural glazing, with a slight fall to a new valley gutter at the house wall, allowing a structurally clean and uncluttered edge. Excessive solar gain is avoided by the extensions north-west orientation and the use of solar film on the glass.

In the evenings, light is provided by low wall-mounted downlighters shining onto the oak floor, which with additional external feature lighting, limits reflections on the glass and permits views to the mature walled garden.