Located in the heart of Dublin, Ireland, the Flynn Mews House seamlessly integrates into and celebrates its historic urban fabric. Sharing ground with an 1847 coach house, the design for this residence highlights and reframes the site through an unabashedly contemporary gesture that honors history while adding to it a distinctly new architectural strain.
This home engages with the historic core of Dublin in a uniquely intimate way. With its main entrance by way of a small mews, or alley, the site’s historic coach house façade was restored and incorporated into the new structure so that unobstructed views from the original manor remain unspoiled.
The house comprises two volumes that flank an interior sunken courtyard, creating a dynamic sequencing of exterior and interior spaces that is atypical in urban Dublin.
This staggering of two masses best resolves the challenge of highlighting the preserved wall. Overlooking the interstitial courtyard, the historic façade is reflected across the contemporary glazed forms that surround it.
A contemporary glass bridge is suspended across the central void.
As part of the Dublin Green Building Pilot Program, the house utilizes sustainable measures achieved through a holistic design approach: recycled and high performance materials, solar panels for domestic water heating, and radiant floors heated by an underground pump system that incorporates gray water.
The Flynn Mews House was completed with an Irish firm, ODOS, providing services as executive architect during its construction documents and administration phases.
