When artists Susie Brown and Ziggy Campbell got here throughout a derelict main faculty on the market on the Ardgour peninsula close to Fort William in Scotland again in 2013, they have been instantly drawn to each the constructing and its location. “The area simply had one thing that pulled us in,” recollects Susie.
Initially constructed for business employees’ kids in 1966, the college was deserted in 2010: “It had been mothballed. It seemed like there had been some type of occasion that had triggered the pupils and employees to flee at velocity, leaving every part behind. The outside was fairly rotten. the roof leaked, and home windows have been damaged,” she says. Surprisingly for the duo, seeing the constructing “at its worst amplified the majesty exterior.” The modernist property on the banks of the narrows between Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe clearly had enormous conversion potential.
Area and funds have been key priorities on the time. The couple had been dwelling in Edinburgh for 10 years and had at all times rented someplace giant sufficient for each of them to have a house studio. Nevertheless, when their landlord determined to finish their lengthy tenancy, they struggled to seek out someplace reasonably priced to reside and keep on their inventive practices. Exploring industrial areas was one doable avenue, which finally led them to the 300-square-meter faculty and to an entire new chapter within the West Highlands.
From the second they moved in, “the work was full on for round 5 years.” Ziggy (aka Lomond Campbell) had simply launched his debut album, and one observe specifically, The Lengths, appeared to sum up the lengthy highway that lay forward of them. Susie grew to become the challenge supervisor and builder whereas Ziggy tried to herald money—a mortgage was out of the query as a result of non-standard business standing and dilapidated state of the constructing—and assist in between work journeys. Neither of them had any renovation expertise however had studied sculpture and have been working towards creatives. “It seems that this armed us with numerous problem-solving expertise and a capability to have a look at any new process as a possibility to discover a brand new course of,” Susie says.
Along with rebuilding a spot to reside and a spot to work, the couple reworked the unique faculty kitchen right into a rental annex to permit structure, artwork, design, and nature lovers to take pleasure in a peaceable break within the Highlands.
Let’s have a more in-depth have a look at their intelligent renovation and distinctive residence providing.
Images by Matt Butter, David Van Dartel, Megan Redden, and Mark Newton, courtesy of The Lengths Studio.
