For five days, the Irish team behind Makers & Brothers (an online retail site that celebrates making, founded by siblings Jonathan and Mark Legge) recreated their off-the-radar shed in the garden of The Standard, East Village…
Continue Reading…
Irish studio GKMP Architects added glazed white tiles to the angular walls of this extension to a semi-detached house in Dublin to help direct sunlight into the interior (+ slideshow).
GKMP Architects designed the Greenlea Road extension for the home of a family of five, who wanted a large, bright living area that improves the connection between the house and the garden.
“The old layout included a dining room and garage extension to the west of the ground floor, which cut evening light to the interior and enclosed the kitchen within the plan, blocking light and access to the garden,” architect Michael Pike told Dezeen.
The existing extension built in the 1990s was demolished to make room for the new addition, which contains an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area filled with light from the windows and a central skylight.
The shape of the walls and the shiny surfaces of the glazed tiles surrounding the doors and windows help funnel daylight into the extension.
“The tiles were used for the texture they bring to a facade and for their ability to bounce light into the interior to brighten the terrace and garden spaces,” explained Pike.
GKMP Architects used terracotta tiles that resemble brickwork to clad another extension in Dublin. Tiles are well-suited for use as a practical and decorative exterior finish said Michael Pike.
“Ceramic tiles are a very traditional material however they are not widely used externally in Ireland,” Pike pointed out. “We use the tiles as a cladding to bring texture and warmth to a facade and also to highlight or draw attention to certain details.”
Door and window frames made from iroko wood stand out against the white ceramic tiles, but also contrast with green tiles that surround some of the windows and cover a low planter that extends towards the garden.
A skylight lined with plywood introduces more light into the interior, while a polished concrete floor used throughout the ground floor helps to reflect it around the space.
The kitchen features a cast concrete countertop that complements the floor and contrasts with the natural surfaces of the birch plywood benches and cabinetry. There is also a store room, utility room and shower room that continues around the corner of the house.
Photography is by Paul Tierney.
Read on for some information from GKMP Architects:
32 Greenlea Road
This project involves the demolition of a 1990s extension and shed to the rear of a semi-detached suburban house in Dublin, Ireland and the construction of a new single storey extension to the side and rear extending to 31sq.m. A new plywood kitchen and dining space open out to receive west light and connect to the back garden.
White glazed tiles bring texture to the facade and bounce light into the interior and onto the new polished concrete floor, whilst the cast concrete countertop then continues the language of the floor into the new plywood kitchen.
New windows are made from Iroko timber and green ceramic tiles are used to highlight certain window openings. The green tile is also used to draw attention and add scale to the washed concrete terrace. A large planter, clad also in green, seeks to bring the garden right up to the dining room window. Inside, a large, plywood-lined skylight marks the transition between old and new construction and serves to bring light into the centre of the living space.
The post Tile-covered walls reflect light into Dublin
house extension by GKMP Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Home rental website Airbnb has opened an office in Dublin with a reception area modelled on an Irish pub designed by local architects Heneghan Peng (+ slideshow).
Heneghan Peng were given a brief by Airbnb to create a series of open and collaborative workspaces similar to the company’s San Francisco headquarters.
The architects designed a horseshoe-shaped bar in dark wood to mimic the interior of traditional pubs found across the city.
The bar is complete with bottles around the top, candelabras at both ends and a suit of armour that is posed to be having a drink between the stools.
Tables and chairs in the adjacent presentation space are also modelled on typical pub furniture, and the ceiling and flooring echo the decor of drinking venues from different eras.
Continuing the local theme, a pair of green and beige Irish telephone boxes form booths for private phone calls.
Heneghan Peng also included the 12-metre-long bench it designed for Ireland’s Venice Biennale pavilion in 2012, which dips and rises as users sit on different sections.
Throughout the office are a series of meeting pods made from oriented strand board, with interiors designed to look like apartments listed on Airbnb from cities across the world.
These rooms are glazed on opposite walls and the name of the city that the design is based upon is written on the side.
Some have seating set into the outside walls for employees to sit and chat in, designed to look like different spaces from the same apartment.
Other larger pods are hinged at the centre so they can be rolled apart to split them into two meeting rooms.
Giant wooden steps are scattered with cushions to create an informal meeting area or workspace.
The post Airbnb hopes for luck of the Irish with pub-like
Dublin offices by Heneghan Peng appeared first on Dezeen.
Dublin practice GKMP Architects has added two tiny extensions to a nineteenth century terraced house in the city, one of which incorporates a wooden window seat looking out onto the garden.
GKMP Architects was asked to renovate and extend the three-storey house in the south of Dublin by replacing an existing bedroom and scullery with an enlarged kitchen, dining room and play room.
Instead of adding an extensive new structure that would have imposed on the garden at the rear of the property, the architects proposed two single-storey extensions with a total footprint of just seven square metres.
“The main architectural problem we identified with the existing house was the great disproportion between living and sleeping areas,” architect Jennifer O’Donnell told Dezeen.
“Since the existing area of the house was considered sufficient to meet the needs of the family, we decided that the challenge in this case was to build as little as possible, to the greatest possible effect,” the architect added.
The new additions are constructed from concrete, which O’Donnell said “was chosen to act as a contemporary addition to the hard cement render of the existing rear facade.”
Bright blue tiles introduce a hit of colour and are used for the surface of a bench built into the concrete of the extension closest to the garden.
“The glazed Italian ceramic tiles were chosen in consultation with the clients and are used as a lining in those places where the wall thickens to form a seat or sill,” O’Donnell explained.
The tiles also appear inside the playroom, which adjoins the new kitchen and dining area and features windows that wrap around two sides.
A corner bench with upholstered sofa cushions is fitted below the windows, while new glazed double doors lead from this room out to the garden.
Both of the new extensions feature large skylights that introduce natural light into the open-plan lower ground floor.
The window seat in the dining area is built from iroko wood, which contrasts with the pale interior walls and frames views of the garden.
The architects also added an oak staircase to connect the new kitchen with an existing living room on the upper ground floor and a new den on the first floor.
The staircase is lined on one side with a bookcase and wraps around a utility room tucked away in an otherwise dark and redundant space at the centre of the house.
Photography is by Alice Clancy.
The architects sent us the following project description:
House Extension at Belmont Avenue, Donnybrook
This project involves the restoration and extension of a three-storey terrace house built towards the end of the 19th century, which has a red clay brick finish in a Flemish bond to the front elevation and a hard cement render finish to the rear. It is one of 6 identical terraced houses, grouped in handed pairs and with identical roof lines, eaves and architectural treatment both to the front and rear.
The existing layout of this house did not lend itself to providing kitchen/dining/living space that was proportional to the rest of the accommodation and so it was proposed to address this imbalance through modifications and a small addition to the existing house rather than through building a large extension in the rear garden.
The new addition consists of two small single-storey extensions, one to the rear of the main part of the house and the other to the end of the existing return on the footprint of the existing lean-to kitchen, that open the lower ground floor of the house to the garden. The new-build is made of cast in-situ concrete with blue glazed tiles.
Inside, a large corner window brings light into the play-room, while a new oak stairs forms a second, more direct connection between ground and first floor living spaces. A new utility space is built into the dark central section of the house, with the new stairway wrapping around and above it as a discrete element, hidden between the old house walls.
Architects: GKMP Architects
Contractor: Sheerin Construction
Engineer: David Maher & Associates
The post House extension by GKMP Architects
includes a wooden window seat appeared first on Dezeen.
Steel reinforcing bars are used for shelving and partitions at this coffee shop in Dublin by VAV architects.
VAV created storage spaces at the Bear Market Coffee shop from a series of vertical steel bars usually used to reinforce concrete in buildings. The bars also run from floor to ceiling in the centre of the space, holding up a chunky wooden table.
“Our intent was to fill the space with vertical lines, and thus gently fragment the space, filtering the views and people within it,” said the architects. “This forest of steel would, we hoped, create a brutal yet honest space.”
Sourced from a local steel manufacturer, the bars create gridded units that are built into the wall behind the coffee bar and have wooden planks inserted between them to display products.
Bronze-coloured pendant lamps hang above the counter, which is made from stacks of oak sleepers.
Thick wood planks have also been reused as table tops and the floor is made from recycled timber.
The ceiling is left exposed and brick walls are painted white.
Here is some more information from the architect:
Bear Market Coffee
The coffee shop is located on Main Street, Blackrock Village, County Dublin. Within tight budgetary constraints our objective was to fit various functions, café related, into a minimal preordained space, with limited construction alteration and modification possibilities.
The concept for the design was to explore and question materiality, test the qualities of everyday materials and techniques available, while at the same time creating something unique and totally distinctive.
The chosen material we selected for exploration purposes was reinforcement steel. Our intent was to fill the space with vertical lines, and thus gently fragment the space, filtering the views and people within it. This forest of steel would, we hoped, create a brutal yet honest space.
The finished cafe would be perceived through the filtered vertical lines of the reinforcement bars, with shelving and benches hidden and supported within them. With steel dominating the interior, all other elements would simply act as a backdrop. Thus the original interior was stripped back to the core.
Ceiling was totally exposed, walls were treated minimally, while existing tiles were roughly pulled off, leaving gridded screed surfaces. The floor was roughly laid with recycled timber, interlaid with steel rods, where the verticals connected with the ground.
This timber flooring softened the space and hid the supports of the shelving units, with the reinforcement bars piercing through it to the hidden supports below.
These two new elements – horizontal lines of timber and vertical of steel, intersected each other, griding the interior.
Client: Stephen Deasy
Location: 19 Main Street, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
Architects: VAV architects: Darragh Breathnach, Pablo Bolinches Vidal, Daria Leikina.
Construction: Stephen Deasy & VAV
The post Reinforcing steel creates shelves and
partitions in Dublin coffee shop appeared first on Dezeen.
We’re well into fall and no drink fits the season with as much comfortable class as whiskey. Whether neat or on the rocks, the thoughtful, warming power of this dark spirit continues to deliver upon its historic identity. It just so happens that many of our favorite brands have offered…
Continue Reading…
Exposed brickwork, pegboards and adaptable wooden display units feature in this Dublin clothing store by Irish studio Designgoat (+ slideshow).
Designgoat exposed the structural layers of a four-storey building to create the industrial interior for clothing and accessories brand Indigo & Cloth.
The main retail space is located on the ground floor and houses clothing, accessories and a coffee bar over a raw concrete floor.
Exposed brickwork lines the interior walls, while an adaptable shelving and display system enables the shop owners to customise the way they display products.
“The shelving on the ground floor was designed by us and built to be flexible,” Designgoat director Ahmad Fakhry told Dezeen. Each shelf can sit flat for displaying shoes and products, or at an angle to display magazines.
A long wooden display counter stretches along the centre of the space and doubles up as a coffee bar. The counter, benches and stools are all made from solid white ash and glass, and feature custom-made steel sockets for their powder-coated white legs.
On the back wall of the store, two pine pegboards are used for displaying accessories such as hats, shoes and bags.
The store extends to the first floor, where black painted steel and oak clothing rails display more clothing and products.
The second floor accommodates an office with customised light fittings and desks, while the top floor is being refurbished to create a photography studio, meeting space and storage area.
Other retail interiors we’ve featured recently include a pop-up skincare shop in Tokyo that has wooden chairs piled on top of one another and a bakery that features a tree growing out of its curved timber counter. See more shop interiors »
Photography is by Al Higgins.
The post Indigo & Cloth
by Designgoat appeared first on Dezeen.
Terracotta tiles resembling brickwork cover parts of this house extension in Dublin by Irish practice GKMP Architects (+ slideshow).
GKMP Architects removed the rear wall of the 1950s semi-detached house at ground level so the kitchen and dining area could be extended into the garden.
The extension was constructed from blockwork before white render and the decorative tiles were added.
The faceted shape of the new structure results in a series of angular interior spaces, while lower walls separate a patio from the garden.
“The angled walls create deep thresholds between inside and outside and make niches for benches,” the architects said.
A layer of sedum covers the roof of the new addition, making it appear to blend in with the garden beyond when viewed from the upper floor.
Other recent residential extensions on Dezeen include a faceted slatted wooden structure that seems to be scaling the back of an apartment in Italy and an addition to an Arts and Crafts-style house in England with glass walls that open out onto the surrounding woodland. See more house extensions »
We previously published a beauty salon in Japan with an interior covered in tiles arranged in a traditional English bricklaying pattern and a seaside art gallery in England by HAT Projects clad in shimmering black glazed tiles. See more tiles »
Photography is by Alice Clancy.
The architects sent us this project description:
House Extension at Silchester Park, Glenageary
The project involves the refurbishment and extension of a 1950s semi-detached house in Glenageary, Dublin, Ireland.
The ground floor rear wall is removed to open the house to the south-facing garden. A series of cranked and faceted walls are made that enclose a new dining area and associated external terraces. The angled walls create deep thresholds between inside and outside and make niches for benches. They are made from blockwork and are faced in render and terracotta tiles.
The timber roof of the extension is covered in sedum to have a visual connection with the garden when viewed from the upper floor. A rooflight is made at the point of connection between the new and the existing to pull light into the plan.
About the practice:
GKMP Architects is a practice that designs high quality modern architecture. We place a strong emphasis on the careful and inventive use of materials, the qualities of light and the relationship between the building and its context. We consider these issues to be more important than working in a particular style and hope that each project will be a creative interpretation of the client, site, brief and budget.
Grace Keeley and Michael Pike graduated from UCD in 1998 and established GKMP Architects in Barcelona in 2003 before relocating to Dublin in 2004. The practice has designed a number of high quality housing and public space projects. We have received a number of awards including First Prize in the recent Docomomo Central Bank Competition. Our work has been published internationally and has also been included in a number of exhibitions, including the ‘Rebuilding the Republic: New Irish Architecture 2000-10 Exhibition’ in Leuven, Belgium in May 2011.
Architects: GKMP Architects
Contractor: Sheerin Construction
Engineer: Downes Associates
Lighting Consultant: Wink Lighting
The post House Extension in Dublin
by GKMP Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
by Sabine Zetteler Throughout his career, artist Darren Cullen has forced his audience to question their views of social acceptability and culpability. Citing the “Spitting Image Komic Book” as one of the most formative influences on…
Continue Reading…
This group of university buildings by Irish office Grafton Architects, including a limestone-clad medical school and three red-brick student housing blocks, was one of the six projects named on the 2013 Stirling Prize shortlist last week (+ slideshow).
Grafton Architects added the four new buildings to the main campus of the University of Limerick, which straddles the River Shannon in the west of Ireland. Alongside the existing sports pavilion, world music academy and health sciences facility, the structures frame a new student plaza on the north side of the campus.
The architects selected different materials for the two types of building. “The language of the medical school is that of an educational institution while the student residences appear like three large houses,” they explain.
For the four-storey medical school, they added a facade of cool grey limestone that references the local architectural vernacular. An angled colonnade directs visitors into the building, where a full-height atrium leads through to laboratories and lecture rooms.
“[The atrium is] designed as a social space with enough room to stop and chat or lean on a balustrade/shelf and view the activity of the entrance and other spaces above and below,” say the architects.
The three student housing buildings zigzag along the northern perimeter of the plaza. Each block has a brickwork exterior with recessed windows and concrete sills.
Inside, floors are laid out with living rooms and kitchens overlooking the public square in front, while bedrooms face back to the quieter northern border of the campus. There are also sheltered meeting places carved out of the base of each block, leading through to the laundry room and bicycle store beyond.
As well as these buildings, the architects also added a new concrete bus shelter to the campus, with steps and ramps that negotiate the sloping ground.
The University of Limerick project was named as one of the Stirling Prize nominees last week. Other projects to make the shortlist include a house in the ruins of a twelfth-century castle and the overhaul of a notorious housing estate.
Grafton Architects is led by architects Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell. Last year the studio was awarded the Silver Lion for most promising practice at the Venice Architecture Biennale for an installation celebrating the architecture of Paulo Mendes da Rocha. See more architecture by Grafton Architects »
Photography is by Denis Gilbert, apart from where stated otherwise.
Here’s a project description from Grafton Architects:
Medical School, Student Residences and Bus Shelter at the University of Limerick
The University of Limerick, in the South West of Ireland occupies a large territory, formerly a Demesne, and is situated on both sides of the lower reaches of the river Shannon, the longest and largest river in Ireland. Part of its most recent expansion to the north of this great river, accessible by pedestrian bridge from the existing campus, provides for the construction of a new medical school building and accommodation buildings for students attending the facility. These new buildings are also intended to address a large public open space which will ultimately become the focal point for this expansion of the campus to the North.
The aspiration is to combine faculty buildings and residences in a manner which encourages overlap and contributes to the life of the public spaces at the University. Aspects of the formal character are derived from an interpretation of the campus master plan which requires an organic approach to the making of public spaces on the north side of the river Shannon. Here the ground is sloping and remnants of the agrarian landscape pattern are still evident in the form of old field patterns and hedgerows.
This new suite of buildings combines with three existing, neighbouring institutions, the Sports Pavillion, the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and the Health Sciences Building, in order to make a new public space. The new buildings consist of a medical school, three blocks of student housing and a canopy/pergola forming a bus and bicycle shelter.
The Medical School, the last in a series of set pieces, acts as an anchor around which the other buildings now loosely rotate. The language of the medical school is that of an educational institution while the student residences appear like three large houses. The concrete bus shelter, together with the residences combine with the medical school to form a loose edge to the public space. The bus shelter canopy, steps and ramps negotiate the level change to the sports pavilion beyond.
The central space slopes gently to the west. Three oak trees, stone seats and steps occupy a central level platform subtly providing a focal point before the space moves out, fracturing at the edges to connect to the residences, car parking and other faculty buildings. The surfaces of the public space move from hard to soft, south sloping grassed spaces, designed with and without furniture to provide for leisure and lingering. The buildings stand guard facing the public space, distinguished by their material.
Limestone is used to represent the ‘formal’ central medical school, making reference to the limestone territory of County Clare in which this side of the campus is located. The stone wall is folded, profiled and layered in response to orientation, sun , wind, rain and public activity. A colonnade to the south and west corner acts as a gathering and entrance space. In contrast the north and east walls are more mute.
In response to the deep plan, the roof-form is modulated to light multiple spaces, including the central circulation space, the clinical skills labs, the corridors, and a small roof terrace.
An open central stair connecting all of the primary spaces, threads through all levels of the interior, designed as a social space with enough room to stop and chat or lean on a balustrade/shelf and view the activity of the entrance and other spaces above and below.
Brick follows through to the residences from the existing accommodation buildings behind. Here the material is given depth and the facades deeply carved providing a form of threshold between the domestic interior and the public space that they overlook. All living spaces address the public space to the south east with the more private study bedrooms facing north east or north west.
The undercroft of the residences is carved away providing archways allowing pedestrian movement from the carpark and bus park to the north as well as forming sheltered social spaces for students. Large gateways open into the entrance courts of the housing blocks where stairs, lift, bicycles bins and common laundry facilities are.
Client: Plassey Campus Developments
Contractor: P.J Hegarty and Sons
Size: Medical School 4300m2, Student Housing 3,600m2, Pergola 180m2, Piazza 1.2ha,
Date: Completed December 2012
Location: University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Project Managers: Kerin Contract Management
Structural and Civil Engineers: PUNCH Consulting Engineers
Mechanical and Electrical: Don O’Malley & Partners
Quantity Surveyors: Nolan Ryan Tweed
Health & Safety: Willis Consulting
Fire Safety and Access: G. Sexton & Partners
The post Medical School and Student Residences at
the University of Limerick by Grafton Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
