northern exposure

The project comprises the remodelling and extension of an existing house on the north side of Griffith Avenue in Dublin. The extension of the building is achieved by the placement of three built forms creating six distinct spaces to the rear of the house to manipulate light in a coherent fashion and to provide for the functional requirements of a family home in meaningful place.

The client brief was to provide an additional master bedroom and en-suite bathroom and larger kitchen cum living space to the ground floor.

The decision to build on the North side of the house was informed by the fact that the front of the existing house forms part of a consistent edge to Griffith Avenue. As such it could not tolerate other than its existing architectural treatment. The form of the building is held when viewed from the road. On approaching through the front gate the alteration of the side access becomes apparent by the mimicking of the normal garage door arrangement. This forms a spatial enclosure on two edges with the new entrance screen which phenomenally and literally deconstructs the corner of the house in anticipation of the other than normal spatial hierarchy. Vertical timber louvers are used to inhibit views into the building which are only allowed when one steps onto the lime stone plate on which the new forms are perceived to sit. This is the point at which a threshold of understanding and anticipation is achieved. This arrangement also allows for the passive surveillance of the entry enclosure from deep within the plan of the building.

Building on the north side of the existing house required the extension to extend as far northwards as possible in order to bring the new spaces outside existing shadow lines for as much time as possible while retaining a clear architectural form and relationship with the existing condition.

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