Very happy with this new design for a semi-detached family home. Today’s work in progress at DKAD!

We have been working to reinvent a conventional semi-detached home in Dublin for the last number of months, and we feel we have arrived at one of our most inventive designs yet.

The front of this house faces roughly south, and our proposed rear extension will be in the shadow of the existing building. In our design, the new extension roof reaches up in a single angular form, and out of the shadow of the original house. It pulls dramatic south-light inwards using a large roof light above the new living space, and a south- facing wall to reflect this light back into the depth of the house.

This will create a variety of atmospheres through the day, and a rich variety of responses to the changing seasons. The most temperate part of the garden will be transformed into an outdoor living space, aligned to the evening sun, and sheltered by the soaring form of the new addition.

This version of the design includes a fiber cement cladding system, fiberglass roofing, and aluminium framed curtain wall glazing. This is a highly synthetic palette of materials which allows us to use vibrant colours, which can be selected with great precision. These materials are familiar in commercial and industrial spaces, and will require effectively no maintenance for the entire service life of the building.

We and our clients have worked hard to accommodate a long list of functions on this typical Dublin house plot, and to integrate the structure of previous extensions into the design with the addition of just 20m2 of new space at ground floor level. The scheme also includes new space at first floor level, and improvements to an existing attic conversion.