St. Catherine's
Extension and renovation of a terraced house in Dublin.
This extension and renovation were motivated by an interest in creating material and spatial dialogue between the old and the new. Our approach was surgical. Through a series of cuts and openings a visual connection is created between the existing redbrick terrace house and our new extension.
We began by creating several new openings, one in the original rear wall and two more in the centre structural wall to connect the front and back of the house and its new extension, establishing a line of site from the front living room, through the depth of the house.
We were also interested in the material connection. The stripped brick room forms a perfect cube, which until it was paired to its core material and lined with another new material, was lacking the real character that cube could have been giving to it. Removing the plaster and introducing the lining fosters a material dialogue from old to new. Painted timber window frames and wainscoting that wrap the room create a link between the front and back rooms of the existing house, while the newly bare brick walls firmly tie this room to the new kitchen and dining area in the extension.
In the extension a network of concrete beams support a flat ceiling to one side and pitched roof to the other. The pitched roof is divided again with a skylight and a matching clerestory window that meet at a central point above a single concrete column. The form of the roof is concealed behind a symmetrical brick gable facade to the rear.
