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Meath, Ireland

Architects: DUA

Client: Private 

Project team: Project lead Darragh Breathnach, DUA team: Joe Keohane, Giovanna Santoru
Landscape Architects: Murphy Sheanon

Design team: Contractor Ashmore, Engineer Robert Barry, FiHed Furniture, Kevin Butler,
Photographer: Shane Lynam


The architects were commissioned to design a house for a family with historic connections to the area. 
The form and layout were inspired by the local vernacular and in particular the Irish farmhouse typology. The building was organized around three courtyards and three chimneys.

The external forecourt deals primarily with the arrival. The building itself is wrapped around an internal courtyard, with each wing carefully positioned in terms of its daylighting and privacy requirements. 

The bedrooms and private spaces look outwards, and the social spaces look inwards towards the courtyard providing visual connections across the spaces. 

A third planted courtyard controls views and the approach to the building as the inner world slowly reveals itself.

As the family was approaching retirement, the building itself needed to be calm, uncluttered, and deeply connected to nature. Pure, primitive forms were utilized and a simple pallet of materials to achieve this serene atmosphere.