Mount Prospect | Architectural Farm

The project brief was to renovate and extend a 1930’s semi-detached house in Clontarf. Poorly considered additions and alterations to the house resulted in a large dwelling with some odd shapes and underutilized spaces, which overheated in the summer and had poor connections to the south facing garden and views beyond. The design response was a fabric first approach which meant retaining and improving the maximum amount of existing fabric, working with the original footprint with modest reductions and additions to improve the flow of the house, increasing the floor area by only 12sq.m.
The additions introduce a new order to the rear of the house, create new relationships with the courtyard and patio spaces and ultimately improve the owner’s enjoyment of the rear living spaces. They include the introduction of a deep, cast in-situ GGBS concrete frame that wraps around the existing ground floor extension and a new 10sqm two-storey tower. The depth of the new structure gives a sense of protection and permanence while also acting as passive solar shading, preventing the living spaces from overheating in the summer. The new structure is complemented by custom, locally made timber panelling and windows, and landscaping that meanders through the columns from courtyard to patio. By removing the pitched roof on the existing extension, light can penetrate into the courtyard, into the kitchen through a new roof light, and into the Master Bedroom through a new picture window with built in seating.
 

Photography: Ste Murray

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