Mary Arnold-Forster feels privileged to work with clients who share her interest in houses that tread lightly on the landscape and aspire to live a simpler life.

I teach a bit and write a bit and judge a bit but am predominantly a practitioner working in remote often challenging and precious landscapes.   My main preoccupation remains how to place these buildings – mostly houses – precisely into the landscape and to use materials to express form and massing rather than as decoration.  To tread lightly on these landscapes and to do so with quiet restraint.  The clients who are attracted to our work share a modesty and an interest in the craft of building and we involve them and work with them throughout the process using models and sketches and obsessive detailing. I have noticed over the last 18 months a general desire to build less, to own less to live a simpler life, and to be serious about reducing our impact on these extraordinary landscapes. I feel simultaneously privileged to be in this position and almost overwhelmed by the responsibility. Luckily, I work as part of an amazing small team of young architects and students who care about and enjoy their work.

Mary Arnold-Forster
Dunkeld, Perthshire