A new singular roof plane floats over part of the rear of the site to create a sunken garden room enclosing a calm courtyard, proportioned on a golden section ratio. A rooflight over steps to the new room – similarly proportioned – generates a diagonal conversation between open and closed spaces. Dissolving boundaries between inside and outside, integrating living rooms with garden spaces by creating an undulating ground plane under a floating roof, it reinforces the idea of the traditional Dublin type, the single storey villa with its ingenious split section. By sinking the garden room and terrace below the hidden courtyard between old and new, then stepping the garden to its original level, volume and spaciousness as well as privacy and intimacy are created.
