![]() We believed that with the right design working with an architect that we could argue successfully for a larger house more suitable to the other family houses on the estate.Īfter inspecting the previous failed applications we realised that the major obstacle for granting permission was private outdoor amenity which is calculated at a square meterage per bed space hence the council decision to grant permission for only a 1 bed house. The previous applications had all attempted to copy and transplant the estate houses directly onto the site without any adjustment or acknowledgment of the more unusual site location and shape. The owner/ developer was looking to sell this land with a granted planning permission for a 1 storey 45sqm 1 bed bungalow after failing twice to secure planning permission for a larger 2 storey dwelling from Dublin City Council. The site for our house originally formed part of the side corner garden to no.80 Hollybrook Grove in a housing estate just outside Dublin city centre. Where the house meets the laneway a simple gable is projected with the image of a doorway and window set in relief.This is the first project for the office of David Leech architects. Over time these elements will oxidise to a pale powder green. Copper downpipes are used to draw figures across blank parts of the façade reminiscent of a line drawing. The masonry walls are finished in a pigmented off-white cementious render, deeply roughcast on the garden side and hand trowelled smooth on the laneway elevation and public faces.Ī heather coloured fibre cement roof is elaborated with expressed untreated copper crampions, copper guttering and tall standing seam hips. ![]() Radiators, sockets, MHVR grilles, sensors and switches are framed within these MDF elaborations.Įxternally, the house is treated in a manner similar but exaggerated to the immediate terrace housing. These rooms are lined in through-coloured Valchromat MDF with a marquetry Valchromat MDF floor. The ceilings are draped along the pitch of the roof, falling from 4.5m above the sweep of the doorway to 2m around the perimeter. ![]() From this space, panelled doors open into generously proportioned bedrooms side lit from large windows sitting on the skirting of the opposing walls. The landing is one door wide and two doors in length. The landing is lit from a tall roof light contained within an extruded chimneystack and lined in timber panelling up to door height. The first floor is laid out with three bedrooms and a bathroom off a small central landing. The house has a BER rating of A2 but it wears it lightly not as a badge. A south facing terrace is located with a bench built into a new inhabited garden wall. The gardens are planted to provide a variety of flora, much edible, responding to light, shade, aspect and condition. On fine days, the folding doors can slide back from their corners allowing the house to spread outside - reducing the house’s footprint to the structural core and increasing the area of external amenity. A continuous loop of circulation is along the perimeter. The core contains the service and plumbed elements of the plant, wash closet, kitchen appliances, fireplace as well as storage and the staircase. A recessed ceiling track allows the rooms to be completely wrapped in curtain when required. These rooms are located according to proportion and orientation and step in section to accommodate ceiling heights of varying dimension and intimacy. Internally a cross-shaped core divides the plan into 4 public rooms: a hall/library, kitchen, dining and living room. To maximise the presence of the garden it takes advantage of the excellent privacy provided by the thick hedgerow. At the ground level the majority of the supporting walls are located within an internal cross-shaped core, allowing a curtain of timber and glass folding doors to wrap the exterior of the house for direct connection and access to the garden. The ground floor layout is derived from the planning requirements for outdoor amenity space. The site is bounded to the south by an existing hedge of hazel and privet, to the northwest by the blank wall of the original terrace and to the northeast by a high wall backing onto a public laneway. The house is situated in a garden at the end of a short terrace of a 1940’s suburban estate on the edge of Dublin city. ![]() These materials and techniques are amplified and exaggerated to become something at once ambiguous but familiar. In their spirit the house is built economically using everyday materials and techniques easily sourced and knowledgeable for a local builder and tradesmen. This project is a contemporary translation of the ordinary suburban house.
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