In Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Architecture Office has renovated a Victorian cottage by swapping out a compact 1970s add-on for a bigger extension designed for everyday family life. The new layout adds a modern kitchen and dining area, plus a utility room and entrance hall, while keeping the home’s 19th-century character intact.
From the street, the extension is meant to feel like it belongs. The team kept the same front line as the original structure and positioned the new work to limit its impact on the garden. Inside, a new hall and boot room help connect the kitchen, dining room, and living areas, creating a practical buffer for daily routines.
The masonry story is the centerpiece. The extension’s walls are 705 millimeters thick, including 300 millimeters of reclaimed local granite. The stone is described as coming in varied sizes with peach-pink hues, chosen to match the existing masonry and reflect Aberdeenshire building traditions. A lime-mortar finish gives the rear elevation a continuous, monolithic look, and the window openings sit deep in the walls to emphasize that thickness and frame views to the garden.
Behind the stonework, clay blocks are used for insulation and thermal mass in what the design calls a vapor-open assembly, helping naturally moderate the indoor climate. Aluminum elements add contrast and are used to support water drainage. In the kitchen, the interior fit-out continues the natural-material palette with Scottish ash cabinetry, Swaledale Fossil limestone work surfaces, oak flooring, and clay plaster finishes.
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