Matilde – Ailtireacht – Dublin, Ireland

Architect: Ailtireacht
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Building Contractor: CRC Developments
Structural Engineer: Casey O Rourke Associates (CORA)
Project Architects: Andrew Brady, Allister Coyne
Project Year: 2006
Project Area: 90 m²
Photographs: Paul Tierney, Paul Quinn, Kevin Kelly

Client Brief:

This end of terrace Victorian two-storey over basement house in south Dublin required modernization and additional space for the needs of the clients growing family. The brief was to provide additional multifunctional living space and bedroom accommodation not provided for within the original house. The existing two-storey return was at a scale not befitting such a large house with cramped internal dimensions making the spaces unusable.

Concept/ Solution:

The design creates a rear return more suitable in scale and playful in nature with an orthogonal emphasis reflecting that of the original terrace. The reflectivity and solidity of the zinc contrasts the flat darkness of the voids and window openings, in the creation of a sculptural form, which sits in deference against the main wall of the house.

A new canopy over the existing side passage encloses the dining area in a transition space between the interior and exterior, which along with a new staircase from the main floor creates a dialogue between the lower ground floor garden and the piano nobile, so often ignored in the conversion of this type of dwelling.