The project comprises of the extension to the rear of a semi-detached house Santry, Dublin. While the house addresses a busy road its mature garden to the rear is an oasis of calm, which has been lovingly nurtured by our gardener clients. The brief was to provide a space to allow better connections to the garden, both physically and visually, a space for music, a space to house their plants and a small utility space to serve the garden.
The response was to place an irregular brick garden wall to the rear of the house separating the garden into an inner and outer garden. The brick wall twists and turns, responding to the mature trees, inviting the garden in and maximising the light to both the original rooms and the new garden room. A single opening is placed in each wall addressing the garden, each wrapped in a warm timber frame, each opening is defined by its function; a tree is framed from the existing dining room, a door to the patio, a second a large tree is framed when viewed from the existing kitchen and the new seating area, a smaller window catches the evening sun and finally a working door accessed from a utility area used for maintenance of the garden. The use of planting, natural light and brick internally and externally balances creating a sense of the outdoors with a feeling of enclosure and warmth.
Keeping the character of the original house was important so the original layouts are maintained, the existing opes to the rear facade are kept, but now providing connections the garden via our inner garden, the existing parquet floor extends into the garden room creating a sense of continuity between old and new.
