SHAPE SHIFTER

SHAKING OFF THE RENOVATION ERRORS OF ITS PAST OWNERS, THIS GLASGOW TOWNHOUSE IS NOW AN EXPERT BLEND OF ORIGINAL AND NEW

- Catherine Coyle

Matt Loader, I reckon, is the kind of person who, as a kid, would have completed the Rubik’s cube in record time. With his eyes closed. And his hands behind his back. The architect has a brain for puzzles. This predilection for unravelling problems, coupled with a love of arranging shapes and finding interesting routes through which people can live more contentedly in their homes, makes the practice work he shares with Iain Monteith stand out. His buildings appear straightforward – easy, even. But that’s the knack; by collaborating with his clients, the planning authorities and his team at Loader Monteith, the solutions he devises are organic conversations, where early intervention and detailed research make for responsive structures. It’s all about communication.

The family at this property in the west end of Glasgow had grown tired of the way their home didn’t respond to their needs. The layout just wasn’t working for them and their young children. The B-listed townhouse wasn’t in its original incarnation, though – many alterations had been made over the years, structural as well as functional, so the traditional ‘upstairs, downstairs’ arrangement that’s typical of these Victorian homes hadn’t survived.