Sliding Window Shields Adjust Sunlight at This Scottish Country Home

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Project Details:

Location: Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Architect: Moxon Architects / @moxonarchitects

Footprint: 1,185 square feet 

Builder: Brudon Joinery

Structural Engineer: Graeme Craig Consulting Engineers

From the Architect: "Moxon Architects has completed an extension to a rural home near Sauchen in Aberdeenshire. The scheme is designed to enhance light, views, and connection to the surrounding agricultural landscape while significantly improving overall environmental performance. The project expands an existing high-performance house with a new living and dining space, office, a principal bedroom suite, and a new entry hallway. The newly created spaces are accommodated within two, single-story pitched-roof volumes, linked by a biodiverse green roof planted with native wildflowers, creating ecological continuity between old and new while strengthening the building’s relationship with the landscape. The resulting architectural composition recalls traditional farms, where the main house forms a tight cluster with a barn and other outbuildings.

"Generous glazing and carefully positioned roof lights align with key points of arrival and movement through the house, drawing daylight deep into the plan and framing long views across the surrounding fields. Beyond providing additional accommodation, the extension unlocks the existing plan, establishing uninterrupted lines of sight through the house and enhancing clarity of movement and space. Built-in storage and window seats complement the light-filled interior and offer the residents practicality and comfort.

"A cost-effective cladding strategy repurposes angled battens, typically used as support, reducing material processing while introducing subtle variation across the façade. Sliding external louvres, informed by nearby farm structures, provide solar shading to the large windows and help prevent overheating without compromising openness or views. A slate roof and galvanized trough-style gutters offer further contemporary reinterpretation of local building traditions.

"From the outset, performance and sustainability have been central to the project, which has been designed to Passive House standards, and which has raised the home’s EPC rating from B to A. High levels of insulation, triple-glazed south-facing windows, louvers, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and other services are integrated seamlessly into the architecture and work together to maximize comfort and minimize energy demand. Material selection prioritized low embodied carbon and local procurement, with the timber kit, doors, and bespoke plywood furniture fabricated within 10 miles of the site, supporting regional manufacturing and reducing transport emissions."