ARCHITECTS - Niall McLaughlin Architects - David Hemingway, Tilo Guenther

CLIENT - Private

QUANTITY SURVEYORS - AKC Chartered Surveyors

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS - DBFL Consulting Engineers

M&E CONSULTANT - EDC Engineering Design Consultants

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT - Desmond Fitzgerald Architects

STONE CONSULTANT -Harrison Goldman

MAIN CONTRACTOR - C.H.O.M Construction LTD

PHOTOGRAPHY - Nick Guttridge, Nick Kane

HOUSE IN GOLEEN

24|25 Architecture Ireland 262

Project size - 300 m2

Duration - 20 months

Location - Goleen, West Cork, Ireland

Report by Niall Mc Laughlin

Client BriefThe existing house had suffered the abuse of the local climate and haphazard development over a period of years, resulting in a fragmented plan and disjointed appearance. The client’s brief was straightforward; to retain part of the original structure and to provide additional accommodation and landscaping fit for the quality of the site.

Existing SiteThe site is located in an area of exceptional natural beauty. Sea views and rugged yet lush landscape combine with fast changing skies and wild deep blue seas. The site faces the sea to the east. The existing house was set between a steep rock face to the north and a small stream to the south. The access road winds down the cliff from the west to the house. To the east, a long gently sloping lawn stretches seaward towards the rocky coastline.

Planning ConstraintsOutside of the local development boundary and set just below one of Europe’s most scenic roads, the character of the views and the landscape seen from the land around the house and the sea had to be maintained. The local design guide proposed traditional or vernacular forms as acceptable but was clear that designs of exceptional quality with an emphasis on energy efficiency offering diversity in design would be acknowledged.

DesignThe house is formed of a series of linear pavilions set parallel to the original house. The pavilions step down the 1.6m fall of the

site creating a meandering path through the house from the entrance on the west to the living space and sea views to the east. The form of the existing cottage influenced the design of the new structures and its ridge was used as a datum that defines the heights of the new buildings. A series of pitched roofs are staggered across the site creating pockets of space forming semi-enclosed courtyards. At the end of the journey a large terrace reveals spectacular views of the cliffs, the sea and the islands of West Cork.

Guest bedrooms are located in the refurbished cottage. Visitors pass through a glass link into the first of the limestone buildings, which accommodates the master bedroom and bathroom. The second limestone pavilion contains the dining room and kitchen. The final pavilion is broken into two parts, one for the living room and the other a freestanding study, accessed via stone doors and a small bridge over the cascading pools.

Materials and Method of ConstructionThe existing house is roofed in natural slate with rendered white walls. New structures are clad in Irish blue limestone. This natural material weathers over time to match the geology of the surrounding cliffs. The stone becomes highly reflective when wet. The loads of the stone to the roof and the walls are supported by a reinforced concrete structure providing thermal mass that regulates temperatures and stores heat.

Site plan

01

26|27 Architecture Ireland 262

Section AAHouse at Spanish CoveScale 1:100

EXISTING COTTAGE 1SEATING 2KITCHEN DINING 3

0302

01

Ground floor plan 1 Kitchen / Dining room 2 Living Room 3 Study 4 Master Bedroom 5 Utility 6 Existing Cottage 7 Pool

Section 1 Existing Cottage 2 Seating 3 Kitchen Dining

1. The project is a composition of existing cottage and new pavilions, clad in Irish blue limestone2. View over the pool towards the house3. The sitting room in the north gable4. Natural slate and rendered white walls characterise the existing cottage5. The limestone is highly reflective6. The study window frames the West Cork landscape 7. The kitchen gable window opens up to light and views A series of pitched roofs

are staggered across the site, creating pockets of space forming semi-enclosed courtyards.

02 03

04

05 06 07

56

1

4

7

23

1

23

28|29 Architecture Ireland 262

ACROPOLIS OF IDEASReview by John HegartyI visited Spanish Cove on a day of sunshine and a clear blue sky. I wasn’t aware of the sea as I approached and saw first the simple flush white geometry of the remodelled original house. Before entering, I looked to the ground and noticed the impeccable detailing of linear paving against a linear narrow drain.

This is a house of three limestone clad mono pitch blocks running parallel to a traditional form, minimally detailed white painted rendered house. On plan the separate blocks seem to slide apart to allow the rooms behind to address the view. Minimal glazed elements connect each block and views are encouraged between the blocks or prevented by the deliberate location of chimney stacks.

From the entrance lobby space I walked right towards the light and the wide hall stretching to the dining space was revealed. The hall forms a strong axis that runs through three distinct spaces. To extended door height there is flush teak panelling on the walls of the hall in the manner of Mies van der Rohe. There is shadow detail around the doors, and between and below the panels to the limestone floor.

Moving into the next space, I see outside through a gap between the buildings. I am separated from the outside by a minimal glass

wall and ceiling. Gradually the building comes together in my mind with pieces of information I gather from looking out and recovering from that daydream to focus within again. When I came to the main panelled sitting-room, I saw out to a bank of yellow gorse through a high window to my left before taking in the open expanse of the landscape that fell to the sea.

I opened the door to the right of the angled end-wall and found it led to the outside. It was very heavy and, when open, I see it is clad in limestone. I am outside on a small stone bridge and there is a door in front of me that leads to another fragment of the building. In this space water sits in a definite pool that relates to a slot cut from the geometry of the last block of the house. It becomes apparent here that this relates to a stream that runs under the house and down the garden into the sea.

Outside, I see the limestone clad roofs and walls. They are seamlessly joined. The gable ends of the mono pitch blocks are open and glazed with deep angled recesses expressing the angled thickness of the walls that come to a point. I look at how water is directed from the roof. There is one recessed gutter with no visible outlet for each mono pitch that runs above all doors and windows but not to the full length of the roof. Just as is necessary and no more that might interrupt the purity of the building form.

Walking around the building externally, the high level of consideration of the formal aspect of the house is revealed in conjunction with the minute consideration of detail and the uncompromising follow through of ideas. I walk around the house clockwise from the courtyard and find the cool of the north elevation and the space created by the proximity of the rock face makes me more alert to the space. The building appears high and sharp and I move slowly down the stepped paving. I step down into the north courtyard. I examine detail and the route for rain water, wherever I am.

The site is a landscape of layers and the house is a building of layers. The carpet of peat that is the site between the peaks that create this miniature valley sits on rock that reveals its craggy fingers as it merges with the sea. First there is the rock, then the peat layer, then perpendicular to the rock run the linear blocks of the house and then against this runs the axis through the house and the rising ridges of linear rock peaks either side of the site.Viewed from above, the house reveals its elemental form. The scale of the building in the landscape may be separated from the domestic by its material expression. The scale of the forms relates to the traditional form of the narrow gabled long houses that enclose many Irish farm courtyards. In addition to the scale

relating to local context, there is the strong perception of there being no scale and the house may be appreciated easily as a formal and abstract object.

Within the plan I see much symmetry and then the breaking of symmetry; demonstrating more reference to the traditional farmhouse which has classicism in its roots. Symmetry created is skilfully broken in a house designed to look out. The simplicity of the house and the formal, flush and minimal detail allows the house to sit in deference to the gorse covered rock ridges and the peaty lawn in the trough between.

The house sits on a solid flat limestone plinth of paving and water pools above the undulating line of the soft landscape. It is an acropolis. It is a settlement in the landscape. It creates rules for its own development and breaks them as it approaches the obstacle of the landscape in the same manner as a planned ancient Greek city or the plan an Irish farmyard of the 18th or 19th century. In its detail, its form and the location of the buildings, this house demonstrates a clear and subtle expression that is specific to Ireland and to West Cork. It embodies a clear intellectual understanding of context without compromise of architectural intent.

08

8. A series of pitched roofs are staggered in this composition