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Building a bold new contemporary home directly on the British coastline is a tall order. Aside from the logistics of designing a house that functions successfully in such an unforgiving setting, planning permission is likely to make it a nonstarter. But on the shore of Loch Long on the Rosneath peninsula, 40 miles north-west of Glasgow, John MacKinnon and his wife Laura found a way to make it work for their house, Rock Cove. While the area is wild and ruggedly beautiful, its history has long been intertwined with the military and was once a brownfield site, home to disused Ministry of Defence huts and garages, overgrown and strewn with rubble.
Back in 2008, MacKinnon had bought a property on the same site, a 1940s cottage that had been repurposed as a navy signalling station. MacKinnon has a deep-seated passion for design, and worked closely with architect Stuart Cameron of Cameron Webster to completely reimagine this humble property as a modernist beach house, Cape Cove. He then began contemplating what could be done with the scruffy space alongside his new home.
“Having worked with Stuart before, it was easy for us to progress. We had countless conversations around how we could create a house there, making something out of an eyesore, without impinging on Cape Cove’s space or views. To make the most of a relatively small space, we started thinking about a house that juts out over the rocks below.” The brief MacKinnon provided was for a house that made the most of the incredible views by maximising the living space, as well as somewhere that would be future-proofed for the couple’s eventual retirement: on one level, step-free and easy to maintain.
Influences included the low-slung desert modernist architecture of California’s Palm Springs; the houses of Frank Lloyd Wright, especially the iconic Fallingwater in Pennsylvania; and Vandamm House, one of the sets from Hitchcock’s classic thriller North By Northwest, which was itself inspired by Fallingwater. “It’s about the clean lines and the connection to nature, through both the materials and the walls of glass,” says MacKinnon.
The resultant building is simple yet completely arresting: a low-slung box cantilevered out over the rocks below. It’s no surprise that it has bagged several architectural awards.
For those with a fantasy housebuild on their mind, Cameron has some advice: “Talk to the local planning department. Have any highly contemporary houses been approved in the last few years? Ask for their recommendations for architects. You could pay a small fee to two or three architects to come up with a basic design. Look for an architect who asks ‘what if?’, pushing the vision forward.”
As with any design, there were trade-offs – the generous kitchen-dining-living space comes at the expense of the more modestly proportioned four en suite bedrooms, each of which opens on to the terrace that runs along one side of the house. The other side is windowless, providing privacy for both Cape Cove and Rock Cove.
With the front door necessarily located at the opposite end of the house to the cantilevered living area, a bold decision was taken to make the corridor into a room in its own right, a generous 2 metres wide. “It’s a great space to put tables during parties and John wanted somewhere to display his collection of Aboriginal art,” says Cameron.
In line with the building’s modernist influences, the materials – such as wood and stone – are reusable and provide a close-to-nature feel. To cope with the sometimes extreme weather conditions, the floor-to-ceiling windows are triple-glazed, while the doors drop down on to seals when closed to keep the howling wind at bay. The exterior was wrapped in Kebony, a robust timber product, which has since weathered down to a pleasing silvery finish.
In a space this pristine, pieces such as the vast modular Ikea Söderhamn sofa pass as designer items. “It’s a great design and easy to buy replacement covers so, again, future-proof.” Similarly, the kitchen is a standard Howdens’ design, elevated by ultra-tough Dekton by Cosentino worktops. “Again, we’re thinking of durability, for our retirement, and also because we let out the house for holidays.”
Life here has proved to be as satisfying as the couple anticipated. “We’re quite social creatures and like to fill the house with family and friends. But it’s nice to enjoy the place in solitude, to sit and watch the ever- changing weather,” MacKinnon says.
Rock Cove can be rented through holidaycottages.co.uk
