Topo Architects
Topo Architects
A home interior with timber ceiling beams and a large window with views of trees outside.

Trossachs Steadings, Scotland, 2020

This is a self-build project that we have been developing with two artists to convert the site of a former steadings into a new home, an artists residency space and an artists studio.

Dating back to the early 1800’s, the farm buildings are located in the Trossachs National Park and comprise a range of existing barns; some constructed from stone rubble with pitched slate roofs and a further tin clad barn with a barrel-vaulted roof.

The stone barn conversion utilises a strategy whereby localised structural walls and chimneys are constructed within the existing internal spaces using stone repurposed directly from the site. These new masonry elements form a primary structure around which lightweight timber floor and roof structures can be used to create a range of double height and more intimate single height spaces. A key ambition of the clients was to utilise natural, sustainable materials with a low embodied carbon and minimal VOC (volatile organic compounds). A material palette has therefore been developed utilising timber, breathable sheep’s wool insulation, natural lime plaster, lime wash paints and clay quarry tiles.

An axonometric, architectural line drawing of a farmstead surrounded by trees.
A house interior with a high ceiling, lime plaster walls and a window to the garden.
A zoom photograph of a natural stone and rock wall finished with lime mortar.
A view across a valley with a village below and mountains in the distance.
An architectural floor plan, showing the ground floor of a renovated barn.
An architectural floor plan, showing the first floor of a renovated barn.
An axonometric, architectural line drawing of a building construction.
An agricultural barn with a barrel vaulted roof and green metal cladding.
A renovated historic stone barn with a large square window and mountains in the background.

Trossachs Steadings, Scotland, 2020

A renovated historic stone barn with a large square window and mountains in the background.
An axonometric, architectural line drawing of a farmstead surrounded by trees.
A home interior with timber ceiling beams and a large window with views of trees outside.
An axonometric, architectural line drawing of a building construction.
A house interior with a high ceiling, lime plaster walls and a window to the garden.
A view across a valley with a village below and mountains in the distance.
An architectural floor plan, showing the first floor of a renovated barn.
An architectural floor plan, showing the ground floor of a renovated barn.

+  Project Information

This is a self-build project that we have been developing with two artists to convert the site of a former steadings into a new home, an artists residency space and an artists studio.

Dating back to the early 1800’s, the farm buildings are located in the Trossachs National Park and comprise a range of existing barns; some constructed from stone rubble with pitched slate roofs and a further tin clad barn with a barrel-vaulted roof.

The stone barn conversion utilises a strategy whereby localised structural walls and chimneys are constructed within the existing internal spaces using stone repurposed directly from the site. These new masonry elements form a primary structure around which lightweight timber floor and roof structures can be used to create a range of double height and more intimate single height spaces. A key ambition of the clients was to utilise natural, sustainable materials with a low embodied carbon and minimal VOC (volatile organic compounds). A material palette has therefore been developed utilising timber, breathable sheep’s wool insulation, natural lime plaster, lime wash paints and clay quarry tiles.