Architecture Open house

Another year had gone by, so it was time to do the Dublin Architecture tour. We saw a few home with my co-worker Paul and his fantastic wife Meg, who puts up with three babbling architects. First off was a typical Dublin ‘villa’ with front steps leading to a piano nobile over a low garden level. The architect was a bit bumbling but was quite interesting to go over the intensive renovation. Next up was a contemporary terrace of ‘double return’ mews housing is at the interface of artisan terraced housing. It was very stark materials, very cold, but true to the materials nature. It was interesting but not quite a place I would want to live. The floor boards were so spaced apart that anyone in heals walking around would be walking through an obstacle course, not to mention the gigantic particles of food that could fall through the huge cracks.

Day two we started with the new Trinity College Long Room Hub Humanities research building. Perching on the end of the Arts Block, it closes Fellows Square and frames the view from Front Square over the roof of the 1937 Reading Room. The new building is seen as a powerhouse of ideas; the honeycomb granite surface is broken and imprecise; large rooflights form canons of light and create dramatic tall spaces for work and research. It was a pretty awesome building that was detailed superbly. Very clean and well through out. This lead up to the awesome crown jewel of the tour. Nun’s Lane is a contemporary residence and workplace on a garden-estate in Killester. The dual function of home and office is expressed in two distinct cubes. Inside, the house reveals great innovation in layout of spaces, changing levels and material choices. It is the type of house that Ben and I would someday like to design for ourselves. It was breathtaking. Very modern, but still functional and not too cold. It still felt like a home. It was a good way to end the two day tour, with something that took our breaths away....