Marcus Lee and Corinna Dean of the WaterShed on the Isle of Mull

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in August, I took a trip to Suffolk to catch up with Marcus and Corinna at their new project and chat about the WaterShed, their striking holiday home on the Isle of Mull. We discussed the ups and downs of building in a remote spot, the ideas that shaped the design and what they have in store for their latest venture in Suffolk.

Modernist Estates: What inspired you to build a house on the Isle of Mull?

Marcus: Corinna is the true Scot but I’m an honorary one. When I was seven, my family moved to Edinburgh and I later trained at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow. Every summer, we used to have family holidays in Ardnamurchan, the most westerly point on the mainland of the UK—this was in the 1960s when people didn’t travel as far afield. There were eight of us and it was wonderful. Occasionally, we’d go over to Mull. I have always loved the West Coast of Scotland, so when we came across the site in Lochdon, it was a chance to work on a project in an area I enjoyed. Also, I often joke that I’m the only client who will hire me.

ME: You’d already built some houses in London for yourself, hadn’t you?

M: Yes, this was actually my fourth and I was working on it in parallel with a house I designed in Sprowston Mews in Forest Gate, East London. Inspired by my dad, also an architect, who had built his first house at a young age, I designed my first house in Islington in the 1980s when I was in my late twenties. That house also helped me to get a job at Richard Rogers — I turned up with a cardboard model and said, ‘Look, I’m building this’ and they agreed to give me a job for a month but I ended up staying for 21 years!

The WaterShed was never intended as a house I would live in full time though and I am not the kind of person who would have a second home and let it sit empty most of the time, so I always saw the potential of renting it out as a holiday home.

ME: How was it working on a project that was so far away from where you were based?

M: It was difficult—one of the main challenges was finding a local builder. We really tried, reaching out through various architects we know, but it was impossible. In the end, we managed to persuade a Romanian team to take on the project. Coincidentally, I had designed another project in Perthshire, so I convinced the team to work on both houses and stay in the area. Financially, it was also a struggle—they say it’s 20% more expensive to build on an island due to the cost of transporting everything over.

C: Yes it was a bit of a nightmare! The site was extremely challenging because it was very wet; the ground constantly had water sitting in it, which made us nervous. At one point, we were torn between continuing with the project or selling it. Initially, Marcus had planned to build two houses on the site, but that turned out to be too expensive and too much of a challenge.

ME: How did you resolve the water issue?

M: Working with the engineer, we designed it so that the house is raised and sits on screw piles—which means there are no concrete foundations. After successfully designing the buildings and getting planning permission, I had achieved a lot of what I set out to do and we found someone who was interested in buying it—his plan was to live in one house and rent out the other. But in the end, that fell through, and then, of course, Covid hit in 2020.

ME: What stage was the build at that point?

M: We had the site cleared first by a local team and the screw piles were in place. Another potential buyer came to look at it but was scared away by the amount of water on the ground. There were a lot of reasons not to pursue it but we carried on.

ME: It’s a very striking house—what was the inspiration behind the design?

M: Having worked for Richard Rogers for many years, my approach to designing buildings involves organising ‘the served and servant’ spaces. The smaller roof comprises the wet areas: the kitchen, bathrooms and utilities, while the large roof space is for the living area and bedrooms. And this creates a bit of asymmetry. Not that I’m stealing ideas, but there’s a fantastic concrete house in Sweden by Tham & Videgård Arkitekter which I really admire. It features a series of gables that resemble fishermen’s or beach huts. When I first moved to London I lived in a warehouse and I think that’s always inspired me—my first house in Islington was timber-framed and that also had a pitched roof and no load-bearing walls so the space was flexible. The same as at WaterShed. My mantra is ‘design for change’.

ME: It also looks like two houses—as you had originally planned. What was the thinking behind the choice of materials?

C: The aim was to keep things simple and low-cost. The wood panelling is Japanese larch from the West Mull Community Forest Company. The decking, which is made of GRP and is typically used for harbours, was recycled from the Thames Tideway Tunnel project—the super sewer. Since the house is elevated, it resulted in a large deck, and we were looking for something that would complement the house and location.

M: And of course, one of the main objectives of the design of the house was to frame the view of the loch. The window was initially going to be two separate ones but it was definitely the right decision to combine them into one large window.

ME: The window and the view are incredible! When I stayed there, I got chatting with someone local who was completely perplexed by the size of the window. What’s the general reaction to the house been from the locals?

M: We were very conscious and sensitive to local opinion—I think anything modern divides opinions, although there is a local vernacular for corrugated tin. But I appreciate it is quite big, and you can see it from the main road.

ME: Ah yes, when I was coming on the bus, the bus driver knew exactly which house I was talking about and where to stop.

M: Actually, the fact that you can get there by public transport was also a big consideration and a plus point. The ferry from Oban to Craignure takes under an hour and then it’s just 3.5 miles from there. You can take the bus, but I often ride my bike.

ME: How often do you go up there?

M: I go up about six times a year. There’s always something to do to the house.

C: My sister and brother live in Edinburgh and they love to go there. I don’t go as often, but I’ve noticed that while it used to be hard to find good food there, that’s really changing. Now, there are some great places to eat, like Croft 3 on the other side of the island. It’s a beautifully designed space with great views and fantastic food. There’s also Ar Bòrd (our table), run by a husband-and-wife team from Glasgow, who turn their house into a restaurant. They offer a set menu and the food is amazing. There’s also a fish farm right at the port where you can buy langoustines and leave money in the honesty box. Someone who works there lives in Lochdon, so you can even get them delivered. And there’s Isle of Mull Cheese in Tobermory, which has a great cafe. They’ve set up a circular economy that is completely powered by renewable energy.

Me: What has the feedback of the WaterShed been from guests?

M: The comments always start with ‘delightful,’ there’s been some great feedback and observations.

C: A couple came from Zurich, stayed, and they left a great comment saying that when they first came in they weren’t sure if they were stepping back in time into an old fisherman’s hut, but then they spotted the contemporary details and felt discombobulated, in a good way. I thought that was a great observation.

ME: Tell me about your current project in Suffolk

M: Corinna was very keen on being somewhere that was out in the countryside but close to the sea so she could swim, and with a big garden. We literally Googled ‘ugly building with big gardens’ with the intention of buying a house that we thought we could transform.

C: We looked at quite a lot of buildings, from bungalows by the sea, and even considered an observation tower, which was a bit of a fantasy. Then Marcus started searching for derelict barns and this place near Sudbury—a collection of dilapidated industrial buildings and a listed 16th-century barn—came up. It was the first we looked at and it was in the middle of winter. We went away thinking it was a really beautiful set of buildings but it was very daunting. I said toMarcus, ‘We need at least a couple of months to think about it…’. Over to you Marcus to tell the rest of the story…

M: I don’t think I did anything wrong, but I had an instinct that it was going to go, so I put an offer in anyway. There was planning permission to convert the barn already, so there was a degree of certainty. Eventually, our offer was accepted.

ME: What were your plans for the buildings?

M: Our intention was never really to convert the barn; we were more interested in the other buildings to live in, but that wasn’t as straightforward as we had thought.

C: The heritage officer wanted us to demolish all the buildings except the barn. In the end, we managed to sidestep that by applying for permitted development to convert the buildings from agricultural to residential use. Part of the regulation means keeping the look of the industrial buildings, which we wanted anyway. We re-roofed the barn because the old bitumen roof was completely soggy and the water was pouring in, so we covered it in cor-ten steel, but we are planning on keeping it as a barn.

ME: You are well underway with the project now; you’ve converted one of the buildings. What else are you planning on doing and when do you think it will be ready?

M: Yes, we’ve converted what we call the Shed. We’ve been through numerous designs, including a mezzanine at one point, but went with a simple box which has two bedrooms. The Shed was originally used to dry grain, before it went to the silo, and had a brick floor. We’ve removed them and we are going to put them in the barn. We are trying to reuse as many of the original industrial elements as possible. We are also converting the silo into a self-contained annexe which will have two further bedrooms.

C: We’ve also done a lot of work to the garden. A lot of it was concrete which we’ve had taken up; a lot of the grass was mown down and we’ve rewilded it and created a meadow, making it more biodiverse. From October we are planning on spending most of our time here for the next six months to push the project on so it’s ready by next spring.

ME: You wanted to be by the sea, are you anywhere near it?

M: No, but it’s arguably more interesting. It’s an incredible setting. We are surrounded by fields, away from traffic; we have our own horse pond and there’s a pub, the Cock Inn, at the end of the road!

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The WaterShed sleeps up to seven people from £200 per night.