New One Off House Design - Rural Co. Wicklow

We have recently completed designs for a new one-off rural family dwelling to be sited in a designated "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" in Co. Wicklow.  The client's have established local needs as they run a business in the immediate area.  The designs have been prepared to be highly site and context specific, to take full account of the stringent planning requirements for such an area and to respond fully to the local authority's rural design guidance for planning applications.

House design

The high quality design of the proposed house has been developed with detailed consideration of the site, its rural context, the adjoining houses and minimizing its impact on the environment (visual and sustainable).

The linear form of the single storey house is broken and stepped slightly approximately one third along its length.  This step in the elevation and roof differentiates between the living and sleeping areas of the house.  It allows for the simple modeling of the form to produce two different roof planes and a differing plane in the front elevation, thereby reducing scale.

The single-room depth of the main part of the house has been incorporated to ensure that the roof mass and ridge heights have been minimized.  This form also results in carefully proportioned gables to both ends that are in keeping with traditional rural vernacular buildings.  This language is combined and balanced with highly considered and subtle contemporary detailing.

The narrow plan depth allows maximum sun, daylight and natural ventilation penetration.  Bedrooms are positioned where they will receive sunlight in the morning and living spaces are arranged to receive light throughout the day and evening and benefit from views.

The main entry to the house is located between the front linear volume and the rear volume of the family lounge.  This positioning responds to the existing entry driveway and allows the avoidance of a suburban form of dwelling - where entry and parking are usually located to the front.  The front of this house will be characterized by natural landscaping consisting of meadow grasses, wild flowers, native trees and hedgerow, and the existing stone/earth berm to the boundary.

The family lounge room takes on a more contemporary form with its zinc roof sloping up towards the west.  It is entirely screened to the rear of the more traditional main volume.  It is also set back from the gable end of the Living/Dining/Kitchen room and leads out to a sheltered and semi-enclosed outdoor space.

The main roof areas of the house (including the rear return) are to be double-pitched with high quality natural slate (blue/black) at 35 degrees.  The lounge room roof is to be monopitch with natural standing seam zinc at a slope of 15 degrees.  Solar panels are not proposed as our preliminary BER assessment concludes that an air-to-water heat pump will provide a more suitable means of reducing primary energy consumption.  This means that the slate roof slopes can be kept free of less visually appealing equipment installation.

Materials and windows have been carefully selected and detailed for the location.  All main elevations (front and gable ends) are to be faced with coursed rubble granite stone, which will be largely, or entirely taken from stone already piled on the adjoining land.  The heavy, solid walls will tie the house to its site.  Window and door openings have been proportioned and spaced to respect the required solid-to-void ratios typical of load-bearing stone walls.

 Materials specified include:

·      Coursed rubble stone walls

·      Stone lintels and sills

·      Blue/black natural slate

·      Mill-finished alu. gutters – vernacular detailing.

·      Alu-clad timber windows

·      Standing seam zinc roofing / fascia

·      Off-white self-coloured render

·      Low stone walls

·      Vertical self-coloured cladding boards (family lounge)

 These materials have been chosen for their appropriate visual appearance and also because they will weather and age gracefully over time.

Download Wicklow C.C. Rural Design Guide here.

Contact us with your queries relating to building new dwelling or extending in rural and high amenity areas.

Planning Granted for Sunday Well House, Lucan

We have recently secured planning permission from Fingal County Council for a two-storey detached, five-bedroom house at Sunday Well, Barnhill Cross Road, Lucan, Co. Dublin on behalf of private clients in association with Future Analytics Consulting.

The site is located to the north of the River Liffey in a stunning sylvan setting at the foot of wooded escarpment, allowing the dwelling to comfortably nestle within the Liffey valley landscape.

The site is located within Zoning Objective “HA” (High Amenity) of the Fingal Development Plan 2011-2017 which seeks to protect and enhance high amenity areas. This translates to a constrictive procedural policy context for development proposals.

Building on previous permission for demolition of an existing dwelling, the consenting strategy incorporated amendments to the previously approved scheme and construction of a replacement two-storey detached 478sqm five-bedroom house, a 37.5sqm relocated garage, revised elevational detail, and changes to landscaping with ancillary development works.

Our role was to prepare designs for a large family dwelling of traditional form with subtle contemporary detailing and the highest quality materials and finishes.  The proposals respond to the client's extensive accommodation brief and the highly sensitive nature of the site by minimising visual impact and placing all rooms to maximise views towards the river and carefully consider orientation.  The house will be built to A2 ("Nearly Zero Energy") standards.

The work involved:

• Development of client's brief
• Site assessment and analysis
• House design and preparation of planning application drawings
• Coordination with planning consultant
• Flood risk assessment in conjunction with specialist consultant
• Landscape design in conjunction with Landscape Design Services.
• Preparation of Visual Assessment study for High Amenity area in conjunction with Landscape Design Services.

We are now progressing with a construction drawings and specification package to take the project to tender stage and construction on site.

The house was designed by Paul Mulhern, Architect, MRIAI.

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Proposed Ground Floor Plan - Click to Enlarge.

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Proposed First Floor Plan - Click to Enlarge.

Interior Design & The Coffee Experience. World of Coffee Expo - Dublin.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”   Maya Angelou.

Yes, we've been to Melbourne.  We have spent three years there and lapped up as much of the city's coffee culture as we possibly could.  The way coffee is done there has to be experienced - has to be felt, and we believe that Dublin needs to offer up more of that experience that tackles all the senses, not just taste & smell.

Melbourne's affinity for coffee developed around the mid-20th century thanks to a myriad of independent espresso cafes.  After World War II, large numbers of Italians and Greeks migrated to Australia, and to Melbourne in particular.  Australian Italians miagrated to Melbourne later, following the development of the piston-driven espresso machine by Achille Gaggia in 1945. Italians introduced Australia to espresso shots, and beyond that the idea of cafe culture. Around the mid-century, Melbourne began establishing itself as a cultural city, and newly opened coffeehouses proved to be excellent public meeting places for socializing.

Australians embrace the English tradition of long, hearty, cooked breakfasts. So it's only a natural fit that Australian cafes seamlessly blend coffee cafe culture with food, leisure, and conversation—as opposed to work with the Americans (think non-stop refill filter).

The fierce independence of Melbourne coffee shops extends to nearly every element of their design - the interior materials, lighting, textures, acoustics but also their quirky names, the signage, letterpress business cards, takeaway cup graphics, the music and the design magazines on hand to browse. And then there's the coffee!  

Once you've experienced this kind of coffee passion you'll never darken the door of a corporate chain shop again.

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This blog post is timed of the lead up to the World of Coffee - Dublin Expo. - 23rd to 25th June 2016, RDS Dublin.

Talk to us about our experience and how we can help you start up yours - Interior Design, Architecture, Planning Permissions, Tender, Construction, Branding, Image & Design Inspiration, Health & Safety, Budget Control.

Useful Links:

• The Speciality Coffee Chronicle
• Speciality Coffee Association of Europe and http://scae.ie
• Brooklyn Coffee Shops - 10 Best
• Perfect Daily Grind
• World of Coffee - Dublin Expo.

New Family House Design Submitted for Planning - Project Update

We have recently submitted a planning application for a new five-bedroom family home beside the River Liffey near Lucan, Co. Dublin.

The proposal is for a large family house in a sensitive location - the site is zoned High Amenity (HA) which has been applied to areas of Fingal of high landscape value. These are areas which consist of landscapes of special character in which inappropriate development would contribute to a significant diminution of landscape value in the County. The Development Plan contains a number of specific objectives relating to HA zoned land including:

Objective HA01 - Protect High Amenity areas from inappropriate development and reinforce their character, distinctiveness and sense of place.

Objective HA02 - Ensure that development reflects and reinforces the distinctiveness and sense of place of High Amenity Areas, including the retention of important features or characteristics, taking into account the various elements which contribute to its distinctiveness such as geology and landform, habitats, scenic quality, settlement pattern, historic heritage, local vernacular heritage, land-use and tranquility.

The proposed house is considered to be in accordance with this specific policy as it provides for a scheme which has been carefully designed to ensure it does not have the potential to negatively impact the character of this high amenity area.  The house will blend into its existing setting. This will be achieved through carefully considered siting and design, and a comprehensive landscaping scheme which will act to filter views of the proposed built form from the public realm. 

Accommodation includes five double bedrooms with en suites arranged around a grand staircase and landing lit by a double-height window and octagonal roof light.  At ground floor a family kitchen/dining/lounge room is positioned to the southwest with sheltered terraces. Two other reception rooms are positioned to the south and southeast with a TV lounge and private study located to the rear.  A double car garage is located to the northwest.  The house has been designed to achieve an A2 building energy rating.

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Ground Floor Layout - Main receptions face south along a east-west axis.

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First Floor Layout - Five en suite bedrooms around central hall and stair.

Contact us about your own new house, extension or renovation project here, or check out some of our other projects here.  We are happy to accommodate a no-obligation initial consultation free of charge.

SPACIOUS