Ardmaleish House

Crinan Canal, Argyll and Bute

Brief
Ardmaleish House is a former lock keeper's cottage beside the Crinan Canal, the historic waterway connecting Loch Fyne with the Sound of Jura and the Western Isles beyond.

The clients wanted to retain the familiar character of the traditional two-storey white house while transforming the spaces within. The aim was to create a comfortable contemporary home with more light, greater variety of spaces and a stronger connection with the canal and garden.

The challenge
The house has the classically proportioned frontage and narrow plan typical of traditional Scottish houses. These qualities give it much of its character, but the restricted plan and relatively small openings limited natural light and the flexibility of the interior.

Its position immediately beside the Crinan Canal, a Scheduled Monument, also required a sensitive approach to alteration. The challenge was to substantially improve the experience of living in the house while leaving its familiar external character largely unchanged.

Our response
The principal elevations were retained, concentrating the transformation on the interior and less sensitive parts of the building.

The internal arrangement was opened up to create more generous living spaces, while new openings and rooflights bring daylight deeper into the narrow plan. Carefully positioned glazing creates new connections with the canal and garden.

The result deliberately contrasts a relatively unchanged traditional exterior with a lighter and more open contemporary interior.

Materials and design
The external treatment remains restrained, allowing the white walls, traditional proportions and simple openings of the original cottage to remain dominant.

Inside, timber flooring, contemporary joinery and a simple material palette bring warmth to the spaces, while rooflights and larger areas of glazing introduce daylight and views where they have the greatest effect.

The renovation also provided the opportunity to upgrade the fabric and services of the house, improving its comfort and long-term performance.

Outcome
Ardmaleish demonstrates how relatively modest interventions can fundamentally change the experience of an existing building.

Rather than substantially altering its familiar presence beside the Crinan Canal, the project concentrates change where it has the greatest effect: bringing light into the plan, creating a greater variety of spaces and adapting the house for contemporary life.

The result retains the character and proportions of the former lock keeper's cottage while giving the historic building a viable future.