This is a long-awaited addition to the small works project of our own house in Dublin, a studio getaway at the bottom of the garden. A personal space, separate from the busy studio life of the office, a quiet place for working from home; drawing, painting, writing and creative collaborations.

The open plan has spatially defined zones for individual work and shared space for collaborative projects or home-based remote-teaching activities. The shed roof is sloped to minimise impact on the garden side and to face the mezzanine workspace towards the skyline of Rathmines church dome. Built-in planting boxes provide privacy screening to the back lane. A bite is taken out of the plan to preserve an existing stand of trees. The internal structure is timber rising out of a concrete footprint.

This house was in need of a mews to complete its form and figure, gradually evolving over nearly two hundred years. We shouldn’t say complete, because an architect’s house is never going to be finished, always in question, under restless review, a work in progress. What now, what next?

Category:
• Projects