How a Modest Zinc-Clad Retreat Won Scotland's Top Architecture Prize - Yanko Design

"Nestled into the rolling hills of rural Stirlingshire, a modest zinc-clad home has captured the attention of Scotland's architecture community. Grianan, designed by Cameron Webster Architects for jewellery designers Neil Smith and Wesley Zwiep, recently claimed both Best Building and the Overall Chapter Prize from the Scottish Society of Architects, cementing its place among the country's most thoughtful residential projects."

"Grianan translates from Gaelic as "sunny place," a fitting description for this single-storey retreat that seems to bask in its landscape setting. The two-bedroom home sits within gardens that the owners meticulously cultivated from what was once an overgrown field. Since acquiring the plot in 2017, Smith and Zwiep have transformed the site into a thriving orchard dotted with over 10 varieties of Birch and Japanese Maple. Pine martens, owls, and woodpeckers now visit regularly, drawn to the flourishing ecosystem."

"The clients, who run Orro Contemporary Jewellery in Glasgow's West End, approached Cameron Webster Architects with a clear vision: create a compact home where they could immerse themselves in their garden while enjoying views of the surrounding hills. The architects responded with a design that privileges simplicity and material honesty. The clean form of the zinc-clad structure sits modestly within its setting, allowing the building's materiality to speak for itself rather than competing with the landscape."

Grianan is a single-storey, two-bedroom zinc-clad house set in rolling Stirlingshire hills. The home won Best Building and the Overall Chapter Prize from the Scottish Society of Architects. Owners Neil Smith and Wesley Zwiep cultivated the site into a diverse orchard after acquiring it in 2017, introducing over ten varieties of birch and Japanese maple that attract pine martens, owls and woodpeckers. Cameron Webster Architects designed a compact, site-specific plan prioritizing simplicity and material honesty, using a clean zinc-clad form that sits modestly in the landscape. The project emphasizes thoughtful restraint, garden immersion and pragmatic material choices.

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