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A Dublin apartment is transformed on a budget with some bold yet simple moves. Walls are upgraded thermally with 50mm of insulation. A new floor of polished rubber tiles provides a seamless link to all the rooms. The kitchen is mainly Swedish flatpack, but is customised with A-rated German appliances and a walnut top.
Split shift: Taking it’s cues from the neighbouring vernacular, this dwelling is programmatically divided to form a courtyard. Bedrooms occupy one building, living spaces the other.
An Arcalign / CSD collaboration
Anglepoise: Raised on stilts above a floodplain, this dwelling uses the interplay of two wood-framed pavilions to create a variety of aspects, scales and solar possibilities. The house is approached from under a chestnut tree, and the entrance is sheltered in an undercroft between the lower pavilion and a cylindrical stone outbuilding.
A bedroom wing is placed below to receive morning and evening light while living spaces above face south. A dual height entrance hall with staircase is positioned at the conjunction.
An ArcAlign / CSD collaboration.
Drawing on the past: The new facade is an ode to a demolished building whose now absent fenestration is ghosted by panels of brick juxtaposed against concrete. Fissures which occur at prominent edges, introduce light, visually separate the materials, and hint at a troubled site history.
Triple A-rated for coolness: Arcalign teams up with Skalp to design a new appliance range called “Streetgang”. Stainless steel fridges and ovens come with bespoke stencilled, sprayed or stickered artwork. Oven hoodies are to be launched later in the year.
“Roofs make a hoose” a wise Scot once said: The departure point for the design of this multi-house development is the sheltering nature of roofs, both physically and psychologically. A monumental roofscape, punctuated by vertical bays, is the architectural language by which the buildings, routes and spaces are defined.
An Arcalign / CSD collaboration.
A practical solution to extending on a narrow site, and not just an antidote to the ubiquitous slab sided extension. The glazed prow tracks the sun’s path all day and minimises overshadowing on the existing house.
Watch this space: Photographs of the finished building plus full drawings coming soon.
Superinsulated and supersimple: To ensure thermal integrity and avoid the vagaries of workmanship associated with cavity wall construction, a fair-faced structural concrete core is wrapped, tea-cosy style, in overlapping layers of insulation. The facade is demountable allowing the cladding and insulation to be easily repaired and upgraded. While the concrete core is expected to last for hundreds of years, it is envisaged that the skin may be changed during the life of the building.
Whiskey galore: Containing a micro-distillery with visitor facilities, this building is a marketing vehicle for an association of distillers. Themes of linearity are explored through the building form, echoing the site, expressing the linear process of distilling and inspired by an established but forward looking client.
A luxurious program on an idyllic coastal site. The house is anchored to an exposed rock by a massive sandstone wall, whose diaphragm construction accommodates the service functions of the dwelling.
The drawings are in a deliberately illustrative style with coloured pencil on cream watercolour paper. White and black highlights are airbrushed with ink.
