Quarry House Upper Deeside, Cairngorms National Park Building, Scottish Highlands Architecture

Quarry House in the Cairngorms

Contemporary Residential Property in Northern Scotland design by Moxon Architects.

post updated 7 July 2025

Design: Moxon Architects

Nestled in a manmade bowl carved out of the landscape, Quarry House is concealed from public view in a wooded site in the Cairngorms National Park in one of the remotest parts of the Highlands of Scotland.

Quarry House in the Cairngorms National Park

25 Nov 2015

Quarry House in the Cairngorms National Park

This proposed family home, designed by Moxon Architects, has just received planning permission and will join a loosely grouped cluster of residential and community buildings surrounded by the Crathie Wood SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) in Upper Deeside.

Quarry House Cairngorms National Park

The house is designed to make the most of its former quarry location, sheltering from northerly winds and bringing sunlight into the house as rooms are oriented south and west. The brief was for the architects to come up with a ‘climate proof’ building that could withstand extreme weather while remaining energy efficient – temperatures in the area regularly drop to below -20C each winter.

Quarry House in the Cairngorms National Park

With frameless glazing and long span profiled metal roofing the form of the house is follows the slope of the landscape and draws on diverse references including modern agricultural buildings and the Arts and Crafts architecture of many houses in the surrounding area.

Quarry House in Northern Scotland design by Moxon Architects

The exterior of the building is characterized a series of re-entrant corners and protected recesses that define sheltered external areas and provide lateral views from the living spaces along the elevations and into the woods beyond.

Northern Scotland home design by Moxon Architects

A combination of wide rough sawn and narrow smooth-planed larch boards will be joined by ‘crinkly tin’ mono pitch metal roofs with deep box gutters and snow rails. Interior spaces will reflect the simplicity of the construction with a palette of materials used to emphasise the quality of light that enters the rooms and draw the eye to views out.

Quarry House design by Moxon Architects

Quarry House in Northern Scotland

Architect Ben Addy said: “the brief for this house was that it should be of the woods as much as it is in the woods. Although the overall footprint is very simple the interior spaces are deliberately ‘misaligned’ in order to create pockets of space that embed the building in its surroundings with sheltered niches and frequent unexpected views.”

Quarry House Scotland design by Moxon Architects

The house received planning permission in Autumn 2015 and will commence construction in Mid 2016.

Quarry House Scotland

Quarry House in the Cairngorms National Park images / information from Moxon Architects

Upper Deeside House in the Cairngorms National Park architects : Moxon

Quarry Studios, Deeside, Cairngorms National Park, the Scottish Highlands, Scotland
Design: Moxon Architects
Quarry Studios Cairngorms National Park

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Design: Moxon Architects

Location: Cairngorms, Scotland.

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