Rathfarnham

• Stage: Complete
• Location: South Dublin
• Client: Private
• Budget: Undisclosed
• Floor: 225 sq.m

Situated at the junction of two residential roads, this project afforded the opportunity to overcome the typical design reaction for an infill dwelling within a traditional suburban pattern.

The house is designed on all fronts, as each elevation has presence to the public realm. Given this context, it cannot therefore replicate or mimic. The result is a sensitive approach to the immediate environs and site parameters ensuring the new geometry integrates into its encompassing context. The contrasting form provides an architectural termination to the suburban streetscape and enhances the legibility between the roads it addresses.

As the site is constrained on all sides, the full width of the plot needed to be utilised. Thus, the external wall of the dwelling is the defining boundary between private areas and the public realm. A new “Edge” is created at this new junction.

The sense of depth provided by the semi-permeable finned timber fenestration at street level gives visual interest and a tactility, richness and softness beyond the norm. The softening of this boundary and the sheltered entrance route with its baffled light allows for interaction between occupiers and passers-by, the building becomes part of not just the streetscape but “of the street” itself.