Amanda Bone Architects

RESIDENTIAL

MALAHIDE

Refurbishment & Extension To A Cottage In An Architectural Conservation Area (ACA)

Location:Malahide, North County Dublin

Status:Completed 2014

Client:Private

The brief was to completely refurbish and extend an existing uninhabitable semi detached cottage, orientated North-South, in an Architectural Conservation area, to provide for a 2/3 bed dwelling with off street car parking.

The existing four room cottage is one of twenty two semi-detached pitched roof three bay single storey cottages built in 1910 with street frontage & private open space to the rear. The modest nature, overall uniformity & homogeneity of the houses and the scale of the streetscape have been retained.

Precedents for this type of development existed on the street, none of which would have been deemed acceptable under the current Development Plan. The completed works established a new precedent on the street and within the ACA.

The challenge involved pushing the North facing tight site to it’s limit to produce a high quality design that accommodated the Client requirements in a cost efficient manner whilst respecting the scale of the existing house and streetscape and complying with the Development Plan.

The emphasis was on designing a spacious dwelling that appeared larger than it actually was and this was achieved through the creation of light filled living areas with strong seamless connections between inside and outside.

The existing house was reconfigured, extended & ceiling heights raised to follow the pitch of the roof to provide the bedroom, bathroom & utility areas. The rear wall of the existing house was removed and an L - shaped single storey volume, containing the open plan kitchen, dining & living areas, was orientated and articulated to capture South, West & East light and lowered 0.6 M below existing ground level, allowing for a subtle connection of the new and existing, a higher floor to ceiling height and to ensure the new extension was not visible above the roofscape of the existing house when viewed from the street.

With a full height sliding glazed door, steps and a long rooflight overhead drawing you from the entrance through to the new living space and out into the garden the new volume slots seamlessly into the existing house. The higher floor to ceiling levels, full height glazing & rooflights blur the boundaries between inside and out creating a sense of spaciousness by providing constant daylight and uninterrupted layered views.