Living and Art
As an inter-terrace, we approach this typology as a reimagination of a tall space between two neighbours as one continuous airspace, where its spacious volume is appreciated in totality, rather than oft-experienced as segmented smaller front- and rear-facing rooms. This approach led to the conception of strategically highlighting several expressed object volumes placed within the spatial envelope of a house, where the 2 party walls act as white canvases defining the limits of the airspace.
The triple volume void holds these object volumes, like the 1st storey kitchen-powder room green block, the ribbon curved glass-clad spiral stair, a barn-like 2-storey “volume within a volume” enclosing the 3 private bedrooms, are celebrated as volumetric, artful and distinct objects anchored in space. Every other space is communal area and circulation tying the objects together. For example, the 1stand 2nd storeys are separated by a perforated corridor floor, hence continuing the perception of continuity of space. The spiral stair stands in the void which connects all three floors, its treads cantilevered from a central structural pipe, sculpturally expressive and self supporting as it acts also as a buffer from the south-western sun. The master bedroom internal attic balcony commands an overview of the house through this void, corridor and stair.
The house owner is an avid art collector and has built the house in anticipation of family members moving in later to join her. The attic master bedroom is at the apex of the vaulted roof volume, where sliding doors allow complete privacy but when open, allows the owner complete spatial (and hence aural) awareness of activities around the house. All 3 bedrooms are designed as an enclosable private volume nested within common areas such as the open stair landing foyers and perforated corridor. The 2nd storey bedrooms are enclosable with full-height pivoting doors detailed to have artwork easily hung from the top on both sides. In so doing, the pivoting panels can be opened and arranged as free-standing art easels gallery-style, or enclose 2 rooms for elderly parents or both. This consideration for future-proofing the house has turned into opportunities for alternative design solutions.
Solar simulation was used to design the roofs of this south-western sun facing house. The resultant was a front- and back-pitching roof, where the front roof was able to partially shelter the rear roof, and solar panels were placed on both. Another barrel-shaped roof funnelling at the front and rear then visually separates the house from its row-like neighbours, bringing into center, an assertion of the house’s own distinct form.
Fair-faced brickwork on the façades in running tone sees construction detailing employed around creating brick arched eaves and the dissolution of opacity into a sheer skin detailed as a brick-slip screen double door. The use of the brick in different applications: as a screen, as a wall, as an eave, explores variations with a single material, that for us, sets this project apart in architectural interest.
Photos by Finbarr Fallon
