Brick a Back House Dublin, New Irish Property, Irishtown Home, Building Design

Brick a Back House, Dublin

Irishtown Property: Residential Development – design by Architecture Republic, Architects, Ireland

18 Nov 2010

Brick a Back House Dublin

Architects: Architecture Republic

Dublin, Ireland

House in Irishtown

A redbrick terrace in Irishtown is folded in on itself to open a space for living.

photographs : Paul Teirney

On passing though the brick wall, which is common to all houses on the street, one is generally met with small rooms lined in carpet and wallpaper. In this case one finds that very wall folded right back into the interior and garden beyond.

A single volume extends visually from the front door to the rear wall of the site. Overlaid with this volume are a variety of spatial conditions, which are differentiated by the degree of enclosure and the use of two contrasting materials; red brick and white marble.

photographs : Paul Teirney

Three meters – two internal and one external – are added to the length of the existing house. Each meter is either open, closed or glazed. This tripartite division of ‘air, earth and sun’ sets up an elemental structure, which spans the width of the house acting as the gnomon of a sundial – tracing the movement of light across the brick wall and floor.

Carrera marble encases the kitchen and dining space from which light steel steps rise to the bedrooms above. This polished dining area is joined to the carved brick space beyond by a white portal – a framing device that structures the house both physically and conceptually by dividing the existing house from the new living space. A blurring of this threshold condition is achieved by positioning this window-wall at an offset from the side of the house, allowing a spatial and material continuity between old and new.

photographs : Paul Teirney

Brick a Back house – Building Information

Project title: Brick a Back house
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Client: Nick Coveney
Cost: €150,000
Completion Date: 2010
Area: 50 sqm
Architect / Design Team: Maxim Laroussi, Jean-Baptiste Astruc, Mark Carter, Javier Buron.
Consultants: Casey O’Rourke Associates Consulting Structural & Civil Engineers
General Contractor: Stuart Mcleod
Photographs: Paul Tierney

About Architecture Republic

Architecture Republic is an architecture and design firm based in Dublin and Lyon under the leadership of Maxim Laroussi. The practice is concerned with the conceptual research and analysis of each commission through design studies in the field of architecture, urbanism and landscape design as well as interdisciplinary collaborative work in art, graphic design, theatre, etc.

Current works includes mixed-use developments housing rehearsal studios, a boutique hotel, offices and café in Dublin, Ireland; 70,000 ft2 reconversion and refurbishment of an existing shopping centre into offices in Poznan, Poland, a rural sustainable housing development in the Languedoc-Roussillon, France and various domestic houses in Ireland and overseas.

In the past few years, architecture republic received numerous awards for excellence in architectural design including AAI special mention Awards 2010 for “the Plastic House” and “the y=3 houses” housing development and AAI special mention Award 2008 for “the Slim house”. Architecture republic (in association with SPArq) won 1st prize in the international competition for the design of 5,000,000 ft2 Parque de la Cabecera in Rosario, Argentina and was short-listed in the international competition of Centre Pier Galway Harbour competition, Ireland.

MAXIM LAROUSSI – Born in Fez, Morocco and moved to France at an early age. He graduated from PUC Campinas, Brazil in 1998 and UCD, Dublin in 2002 with a B.Arch. He lived and worked as an architect in various countries including UK, France, Brazil and Ireland before setting up Architecture Republic in Dublin 2005. He was president of the Architectural Association of Ireland from 2005-06 and currently teaches at the School of Architecture University Limerick.

Brick a Back House images / information from Ailtireacht Architects

Dublin Houses

Location: Dublin, Ireland