Architects are for everyone

The Sunday Times (Ireland Home Section - Cover Story), November 3, 2002

The Irish traditionally shun bespoke homes, but three of the winning projects in this year's Plan Opus building awards show good design does not have to cost the earth, writes Niall Toner

Creative architecture for private homes is beyond the financial league of the average punter: discuss. Certainly that's the widely held view. But the award winners at this year's architectural Oscars, the Plan Expo awards, beg to differ with this thesis. In fact, they positively trounce it.

When it comes to building houses or making improvements to existing ones, we are traditionally a nation of off-the-peg buyers. We shun bespoke homes for fear of builders talking telephone numbers. However, an increasing number of simple building projects these days incorporate bold plans by imaginative architects.

Who would expect a rural one-off bungalow in Co. Clare, an extension to a suburban semi in Milltown, Dublin, and the renovation of an old forge in Co. Laois to come top of the class when awards were being handed out? In the Plan Expo Opus building awards for 2002, all three were in the "under €375,000" category, and two of them came in well under that.

Evelyn Duff, of Evelyn Duff Architects, one of the firms commended, says: "It is probably the cost factor that has made people scared to approach architects. The percentage of people undertaking projects who use architects is in single figures. But this is changing, especially with the realisation that good design can be simple and effective."

The project that won her firm the commendation involved the renovation of the Old Forge at Capard in Co. Laois. Muirin NiChonaill and her husband John Duffy had a budget of less than €100,000. Duff says: "Even though they had a very low budget, they wanted to do something different without changing the character of the building. The house had been extended by a previous owner, so we put on little wooden additions and rearranged the space inside to open it up to more sunlight." The result is a striking home that respects its rural surroundings.

Gary Mongey, who won a special commendation for firm Box Architecture for work on The House of the Rising Sun at Ramleh Park, Milltown, Dublin, believes homeowners are now open to bolder ideas. "I had an elderly couple referred to me who were looking for a conservatory. When I asked them what they wanted, they produced photographs of very conservative looking structures and then we showed them the stuff we could do. They binned the pictures they had brought and said, 'We'll have that instead'. "If you are clever with materials and building methods you can keep the cost down. We charge a reasonable sum, which becomes part of the overall budget as opposed to a fee that is tagged on afterwards."

The owners of the Milltown house had a budget of €130,000 and did not spend much more than that. It was more than just an extension, though. The house space was rearranged and the rooms adjusted to maximise the property's easterly orientation. The overall winner in the "under €375,000" category was Richard Rice from Limerick, who joins that exclusive club of Irish architects who design their own homes. His ultra-modern house was built from scratch. It has two elements: sleeping accommodation, housed in a concrete-block box to the rear, and the main living quarters, an open-steel, glass and wooden structure designed to take maximum advantage of the elevated site overlooking Sixmilebridge in Co. Clare. Rice believes interior design programmes are partially responsible for the move away from traditional home design housing and he hopes that his winning the award will help this process.