We are always delighted to work on grand Scottish buildings such as this. But to extend this significant detached Arts and Crafts style house and meet the expectations of the client, we needed to overcome a few issues typical of refurbishing and extending a historic building. The client’s impressive vision to enlarge the house and make it suitable for luxury 21st-century family living, complete with indoor pool, gym and an easy indoor-outdoor lifestyle has given us scope for imaginative yet sympathetic architectural ideas. The issues to overcome include managing a modest entrance and creating more space in a series of public rooms which were not designed for modern living – today we put emphasis on open, flowing informal spaces with multipurpose uses. We also needed to add a dramatic light-filled contemporary extension that remains in keeping with the style of the original house.