Design Challenge and Design Ideas

The original house was designed in 1878. It was purchased by my clients in a very poor state of repair requiring major refurbishment. The previous owners sold a substantial portion of the site to the west of the house for development. The subsequent residential development had compromised the privacy of the house and garden. Two main challenges: to extend the house and at the same time protect the privacy of the site, the area to extend is limited to the boundary wall to the west, a mature (protected) tree to the south, and the main building. The second challenge was the up-grade of the traditional building and how it should connect with the new spaces. Design intent for Interior spaces; a series of interconnecting rooms with defined sight lines and views of the kitchen courtyard and garden. Together with Eoin Lyons Interior Designer we developed schemes for the individual rooms.

How the brief was fulfilled

The original building, square in plan, comprises 4 reception rooms at ground floor level. During concept design I established various axis which determine the connection of the spaces. The interior spaces are opened or punctuated with specific sight lines, openings were created east west through the original house to the proposed courtyard, the contemporary extension runs north south from the front garden though to the rear garden, and secondary sight lines strengthen the visual connection of the rooms.
In order to restore the main building two main decisions were made, cornicing would be restored and all traditional joinery would be fully restored and improved by the same level of skill and craft, even with the same tools used in its original creation. The original (service) corridor of the house was widened 200mm, the stairs was rebuilt, and the joinery details were refined in order to be released of their ecclesiastical appearance.
The proportions of the original building follow through to the contemporary extension; the ceiling height only lowers towards the garden creating the intimacy of the morning room. The craft of the restoration of the original building is counterbalanced with the detailing of the contemporary spaces. For the finishes of the Interior I invited Eoin Lyons Interior Designer to work on the concept and delivery of the furniture, fabrics and interior finishes of the individual rooms. Using abstract images from fashion photography we developed a concept for each room. These concepts developed into furniture layouts, colour schemes, and decorative elements. Two teams of joiners worked with me to develop the specialist joinery items such as the stain used for the wine room and the oak joinery throughout. Bespoke joinery items include a bed-head in maple and brass, cabinetry in oak and burnished steel, tv unit in silk and brass, and detailed window reveals in brass and oak.
The opportunity as designers to work from the macro through to the micro detail of a project is rare. The commitment of our clients to finish the house to this level of detail allowed us to apply all the layers and textures that bring the interior to life; the sienna stone, the polished plaster, the linen wall finishes, the lighting and the combination of bespoke and selected furniture.