November 24 2023

A canalside garden room extension in Edinburgh's Merchiston & Greenhill Conservation Area has been completed by DS Architecture.

68 Polwarth Terrace stands parallel to the Union Canal on a natural slope heading down to the water but its previous configuration failed to capitalise on this setting.

This has been addressed by knocking down a disjointed single-storey rear kitchen extension to open up the lower ground floor as a family dining area and informal living space that fully embraces the north-facing garden. A sandstone and zinc extension extrudes this space into the garden, employing a flat roof and clerestory glazing to draw light and views to the interior.

The resulting open plan space is focussed on a white oak stair extending to the ground floor through a double-height void.

Explaining the structural challenge of supporting the load of a masonry home Dugald Skene wrote: "... the load of 3 storeys above the main opening, while trying to best integrate the new supporting structure so as not to have it impinge on the space, called for a substantial ‘goalpost’ arrangement, set as high as possible to avoid the need for any down stands..."

Planning permission for the extension was in March. Photography by Ross Campbell.

3 Comments

#1 Posted by "El" on 24 Nov 2023 at 13:03 PM

Lovely

#2 Posted by Quibble Dribble on 24 Nov 2023 at 16:01 PM

I always thought that the proportion of this fascia was a bit on the heavy side belonging more to MVDR's New National gallery in Berlin than to a domestic extension. Other than that, nice!

#3 Posted by Lillian Nish on 24 Nov 2023 at 21:49 PM

#ah I'm here for the pretentiousness - carry on boys.

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