Date: 17 October 07
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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The site forms part of the former Princess Margaret Rose Hospital and offers a gentle, south-facing slope on the edge of town, with wonderful views out to the Pentland Hills. On this part of the wider site – all bought by Taylor Woodrow Developments – sat a fine, listed, modernist Orthopaedic Wing, by Morris and Steedman, empty and damaged by fire. The appointment of Malcolm Fraser Architects was due to the Planners’ insistence that any new development on its site should have ambitions to achieving the same quality.
In response to the site, the seventeen two-storey terraced houses and six flats, are ranged in a series of short terraces stepping down the slope, allowing sunlight in and views out to the south. In the upper terraces principal living spaces sit on the first floors, to catch the view and all of the sun; while in the lowest terraces ground floor living spaces have the uninterrupted view. All the terraced homes have south-facing gardens with primary or secondary (“family-room”) living spaces opening onto them; and all have cars parked at north-facing front doors. The gates of the gardens therefore face the front doors and parking courts of the terrace in front, meaning that the layout is organised around a series of short courts that resemble a mews, each shared by the front door or garden gate of a small group of homes. At the top of the site, as termination, a three-storey block of flats is set against the existing Scots pine tree-belt, while at the foot of the site is a shared Green.
Inside, the houses are organised around a lightwell and open stair, which draws light and people through the homes, and off which the rooms are organised. The whole development is, therefore, articulated through a series of linked private-to-public gathering-places, out from the home to a garden and shared wee mews (safe for kids’ play), and finally to the Green, each place and each transition given further life and meaning by its relationship to the sun and the view.
Project: Princess Gate
Architect: Malcolm Fraser Architects
Client: Taylor Woodrow Developments Ltd
Landscape Architect: Robin Swinton, Pitlochry
Location: Princess Gate, Fairmilehead West, Edinburgh
Value: £2.37 million
Link: http://www.malcolmfraser.co.uk
Photographer: Keith Hunter Photography
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