The single-storey Carnivan House overlooks the sea from a cliff-top vantage point in Fethard on Sea, so Aughey O'Flaherty Architects designed the residence with floor-to-ceiling windows and a rooftop terrace.

The building features an L-shaped plan with a square lawn on the eastern side, where it can benefit from morning sunlight but is also protected from the prevailing south-westerly wind.

Narrow terraces are tucked into recesses along three different elevations. Framed by polished concrete and with glazing behind, these inserts exaggerate the thickness of the exterior walls.

The entrance to the house is at the outer corner and leads through to an open-plan living and dining room in the southern wing, or to four bedrooms in the eastern wing. An indoor staircase ascends to the roof, where the private terrace is screened behind a parapet wall.

Other recently completed houses in Ireland include a seaside residence with two wooden halves and a rural cottage with four limestone extensions. See more Irish houses on Dezeen.

Photography is by Marie Louise Halpenny.

Here's a project description from Aughey O'Flaherty Architects:

This project is a new house on a site by the sea in Wexford. The site is located on a headland, Baginbun Head, a protected scenic amenity area. It contains a Norman wall and is bounded on three sides by cliffs and sea. The challenge was to deal with the potentially conflicting objectives of creating a home that was sensitive to this beautiful landscape and that also made the most of it.

The form of the house is a simple L shape. This is a response to function, the path of the sun through the day and to the wind.

The living accommodation is located in one wing, which is dual aspect and avails of the east-west orientation. The bedroom accommodation is located in the other wing and avails of the north-south orientation. The entrance and services are located in the intersection of the two wings. This square intersection has a low ceiling height to enable a roof terrace, positioned above. This is open to the sky and concealed within the roof profile.

The building is kept low and the L shape plan is rotated to avoid the prevailing winds, regularly wild, from the sea to the west. The two wings protect and shelter a south-facing garden which completes the square.

Three external covered spaces are cut into the L, in the form of niches, of varying depth. The entrance porch is located in a recess on the more public, northern side. A south-facing terrace opens the bedroom wing to the garden. A long west-facing covered porch opens the living room wing to the wonderful landscape and the views of sea and sunset to the west.

Above: site plan - click for larger image

The building was designed to be energy efficient and cheap to run. The house is a combination of new and traditional construction technologies. The house is a super insulated air-tight prefabricated timber structure, slowly wrapped in a local random rubble, sitting on a polished concrete base. Its layout and detail were guided by the principles of sustainable design.

Above: floor plan - click for larger image

The use of natural light is integral. There are tall ceiling heights and large areas of full-height-glazing and sliding screens located to maximize the solar gain.

Above: section one - click for larger image

The east, west and north façades are exceptionally thermally efficient. It was designed with a marsh grass roof to increase thermal efficiency and link it with the ground.

Above: section two - click for larger image

The house is 260m² in size. The design process began in Jan 2008 and the house was completed June 2012.

Above: section three - click for larger image

The post Carnivan House, Fethard on Sea
by Aughey O'Flaherty Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

A small courtyard separates the small Georgian building from a concealed glass and concrete extension and Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects (LOHA) has constructed a glass tunnel to link rooms within the two separate structures.

The historic facade now faces the courtyard and a tunnel through the original entrance creates a route to the house's new front door on the glass facade beyond.

Above: photograph is by Alice Clancy

"One of the key requirements was to provide visual access from the main Georgian house on Pembroke Road," Lorcan O'Herlihy told Dezeen. "We had to have circulation access through the facade and really integrate it into the home, but the facade itself also had to be restored to exactly how it was."

A pair of bedrooms and a study occupy the two floors of the renovated building, while a living room, kitchen and two more bedrooms are contained within the ground floor and basement of the extension.

Wooden formwork has left its traces on the cast concrete walls at the rear of the house, which opens out to a small garden and patio.

Sustainability was an important consideration in the design and the house generates all its own heating using solar panels on the roof and a ground-sourced pump.

Above: photograph is by Alice Clancy

Lorcan O'Herlihy is an Irish architect that now lives and works in LA. We've previously featured a housing block he designed in West Hollywood.

Above: photograph is by Alice Clancy

See more Irish houses on Dezeen, including four limestone-clad extensions to a residence on the south coast.

Photography is by Enda Cavanagh, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's a project description from Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects:

Flynn Mews House

In the heart of Dublin, LOHA has completed a single-family mews home that marries modern aesthetics with its historic Georgian site. The home incorporates an 1847 coach house façade, which was restored and minimally altered to comply with local planning efforts. The visual link between the coach house and its primary manor has, too, been maintained; these parameters drove a transparent and honest design approach that pays homage to the Flynn Mews House’s origins.

Above: photograph is by Alice Clancy

Entering from the alley into the forecourt, the home’s front face is a composition of board-formed stained concrete and glass, with an entry passage highlighted by white plaster. Gradually sloping downward, the passageway funnels the guest through this initial volume and into an enclosed split-level garden. Here in the courtyard, the coach house façade reflects upon the curtain-wall glazing of the entrance form and the contemporary bridge that joins it with the site’s older half.

As part of the Dublin Green Building Pilot Program, the project incorporates a significant amount of sustainable measures achieved through a holistic design approach. Solar panels are used for domestic water heating while radiant floors utilize an underground heat pump system that incorporates gray water. Materials include stained concrete with recycled glass content, high performance insulated glass, and high gloss plaster.

Above: the coach house facade before renovation

Location: Dublin, Ireland
Size: 260 sq. meters
Program: Four bedroom, single family mews

Above: floor plans - click above for larger image

Architect: LOHA (Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects)
Lorcan O’Herlihy, Principal-In-Charge, Donnie Schmidt (PD), Alex Morassut (PM), Po-Wen Shaw

Above: long section through tunnel - click above for larger image

Client: Ella Flynn
Executive Architect: ODOS Architects
Structural Engineer: Casey O’Rourke & Associates Contractor: Oikos Builders
Landscape Architect: James Doyle & Associates
Completion Date: Spring 2011

Above: long section though courtyard - click above for larger image

The post Flynn Mews House by
Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

To recreate the character of the single-storey cottage, the architects mirrored its sloping roof profile for the new buildings, creating a staggered row of gables that step gradually down the sloping site.

The existing residence has white-painted exterior walls, so the dark limestone of the extension relates more closely to the slate that covers its roof.

The architects explain how the limestone "weathers over time to match the geology of the surrounding cliffs," and also "becomes highly reflective when wet."

Semi-enclosed courtyards fit into the gaps between each of the buildings, finishing with an east-facing terrace overlooking the coastline, which the architects say "reveals spectacular views of the cliffs, the sea and the islands of West Cork."

Glass walls and large windows frame more east-facing views from the dining room, living room and study, which occupy two of the new buildings.

House at Goleen was completed in 2009 but hasn't been widely published.

See more residential extensions on Dezeen, including a Corian-clad addition to a house in London.

Photography is by Nick Guttridge.

Here's some more information from Niall McLaughlin Architects:

House at Goleen

Client Brief

The existing house had suffered the abuse of the local climate and haphazard development over a period of years resulting in a fragmented plan and disjointed appearance.

The clients brief was straightforward; to retain part of the original structure and to provide additional accommodation and landscaping fit for the quality of the site.

Existing Site

The site is located in an area of exceptional natural beauty. Sea views and rugged yet lush landscapes combine with fast changing skies and wild deep blue seas. The site faces the sea to the east.

The existing house was set between a steep rock face to the north and a small stream to the south. The access road winds down the cliff from the west to the house. To the east a long gently sloping lawn stretches seaward towards the rocky coastline.

Planning Constraints

Outside of the local development boundary and set just below one of Europe’s most scenic roads, the character of the views and the landscape seen from the land around the house and the sea had to be maintained.

The local design guide proposed traditional or vernacular forms as acceptable but was clear that designs of exceptional quality with an emphasis on energy efficiency offering diversity in design would be acknowledged.

Design

The house is formed of a series of linear pavilions set parallel to the original house. The pavilions step down the 1.6m fall of the site creating a meandering path through the house from the entrance on the west to the living space and sea views to the east.

The form of the existing cottage influenced the design of the new structures and its ridge was used as a datum that defines the heights of the new buildings. A series of pitched roofs are staggered across the site creating pockets of space forming semi-enclosed courtyards.

At the end of the journey a large terrace reveals spectacular views of the cliffs, the sea and the islands of West Cork.

Guest bedrooms are located in the refurbished cottage. Visitors pass through a glass link into the first of the limestone buildings, the first of which accommodates the master bedroom and bathroom.

The second limestone pavilion contains the dining room and kitchen.

The final pavilion is broken into two parts, one for the living room and the other a freestanding study, accessed via stone doors and a small bridge over the cascading pools.

Materials Method of Construction

The existing house is roofed in natural slate with rendered white walls. New structures are clad in Irish blue limestone. This natural material weathers over time to match the geology of the surrounding cliffs. The stone becomes highly reflective when wet. The loads of the stone to the roof and the walls are supported by a reinforced concrete structure providing thermal mass that regulates temperatures and stores heat.

Project: House at Goleen
Location: ‘La Finca’, Spanishcove, Goleen, Co. Cork, Ireland
Compeltion: July 2009
Area: 300 sq m
Project architects: David Hemingway, Tilo Guenther

Site plan - click above for larger image

Ground floor plan - click above for larger image

Section - click above for larger image

East elevation - click above for larger image

The post House at Goleen by
Niall McLaughlin Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Irish architects Dot Architecture and Soc-Arc designed the walls and sloping roofs of C-House on top of the substructure of an existing house that had been irreparably damaged by flooding.

Inspired by the forms of a traditional Irish bungalow, the house has a single row of low-silled windows that create the false impression that each block has only one storey inside.

Once inside, one of the blocks is revealed to house two floors of bedrooms while the other two contain double-height living and dining rooms.

Other projects we've featured from Ireland include a mews house with protruding brickwork - see all our stories about Ireland here.

Photography is by Paul Tierney.

Here's some more information from Dot Architecture:

C-House

In August 2008 a 1980s family home in rural county Kildare lay submerged under 1m of water during three separate, unprecedented flash floods. The family devastated by the loss of their home saw the opportunity in rebuilding, to remodel the house while making it safe from possible future floods.

Alterations to the existing ground levels were essential. The existing slab and raft foundations were to be reused as much as possible to reduce costs and environmental impact.

The existing external walls were cut at cill level of the original house, filled, and used as retaining walls providing a new raised ground floor level 1.2 metres above the original.

Building material salvaged from walls above cill level was re-used where appropriate as fill below the new ground floor slab. A lower ground floor level was formed by tanking a leg of the original ground floor.

The project is a contemporary interpretation of an Irish Bungalow, answering issues of context, planning and site levels. Three blocks sit on the site connected through an interlocking knuckle hall linking the uses of living, kitchen/dining and sleeping.

The ‘light chimneys’ direct light deep into these spaces leaving an ecclesiastic glow in the space and act as mini stacks for natural ventilation of the spaces.

Additional floor area and natural light were primary drivers for the scheme, as the previous house had been dominated by a long and eternally dark corridor surrounded by a series of box rooms. The project uses both direct and borrowed light from the light funnels.

The two-storey Sleeping block is a tanked part-basement polished white concrete floor built on the existing slab, a void punched through the floor above brings light to the new hall below.

The rooms are lit by tilting/pivoting/swinging large format hardwood windows and doors using a modular size of 2.25m x 1.5m throughout.

The upper floor is supported on a cranked beam giving additional height to the first floor rooms without overly raising the ridge level and retaining the appearance of bungalow externally.

The crank in the beam returns space to the lower level bedrooms enabling the larger format windows to pull in more light at this level.

The entire first floor level is lit by the large light chimney, providing direct and borrowed light to the bedrooms and study by use of internal rooflights, screens and voids.

The living spaces in the front block can be combined by folding back two large triangular flush screens, 1.5m x 4.5m, leaving the central chimney in the round.

The kitchen/dining block is an addition to the original footprint providing an 8m x 8m square floor with pulled-in slider and overhang forming a porch between the adjoining utility and back garden. Light falls from above via the off-centre light funnel.

Floor Area: 260 m²Architects: Steven Connolly, Alan Connolly & Gráinne Daly

Quantity Surveyors: Mulcahy McDonagh and Partners (MMP)

Joinery: McNally Joinery
Dining Table and Bench: Kieran Costelloe, Furniture Restorer and Cabinet Maker
Client: Private
Location: Prosperous, Co. Kildare, Ireland Project
Size: 260 m2
Project Duration: 12 months

The post C-House by Dot Architecture
and Soc-Arc appeared first on Dezeen.

A glazed corridor connects the two wooden halves of this seaside house on the east coast of Ireland by Dublin studio A2 Architects.

Constructed from Douglas fir, the single-storey residence replaces a holiday chalet that previously occupied the site.

An existing sea wall protects the rear terrace behind the house during high tides, but a gated staircase leads down to the beach when the tide is out.

One side of the house contains nothing but a large living and dining room, while two bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen are located opposite.

Clerestory windows run along the sides of the house, above the furniture.

You can see a few more projects in Ireland here, including a mews house with protruding brickwork.

Photography is by Marie-Louise Halpenny.

The following text is from A2 Architects:

Seaside House

A new seaside holiday house occupies the former site of a longstanding summer chalet with existing private access to a dramatic beach on the east coast of Ireland, north of the capital city of Dublin.

Resonating with the scale and placement of neighbouring mobile homes, two untreated douglas fir timber enclosures rest on a cast concrete podium over a drift geology. Shelter unfolds between parallel wall planes to embrace views east over the Irish Sea and west over potato fields.

Viewed from the upper coastal road the grass roofs assimilate into the patchwork of field enclosure common in the Irish landscape.

A central cast terrazzo fireplace and a roof lit spine hallway anchor the plan.

A datum at 2.1m extends out to the external terraces forming shelter like the cap of a hat above which a continuous south facing clerestory window spans the living room, tracking the sun from morning to evening.

Clerestory glazing internally above the built-in furniture brings reflected sunlight into the timber lined bedrooms and bathrooms. A counter level window in the kitchen affords a panoramic view north to the headland on the coast. A layer of reflective polished terrazzo is laid over the concrete podium and parallel to the horizon in a wave-like rhythm.

A coastal garden and raised planter afford privacy to the main bedroom and a sheltered evening terrace enjoys west sun and views of the horizon through the living room. The large seaside family terrace is the focus for daily beach life; a place to gather and enjoy the sun or the shade.

Underfloor heating and superinsulation allow year round economic comfort and use.

Project Facts:
Internal Area of house: 150 sq.m
Duration (design to completion): 2006 – 2010
Location: County Louth, Republic of Ireland

Architects: A2 Architects
Team: Caomhan Murphy MRIAI, Peter Carroll MRIAI, Joan McElligott MRIAI

Structural Engineer: Casey O’ Rourke Associates
Main Building Contractor: Peter Taaffe, Ardee, Co.
Terrazzo: P.J. Ryan Terrazzo and Mosaic Specialists Ltd.

The post Seaside House by A2 Architects appeared first on Dezeen.