A-House in Dublin, Ireland

June 25, 2010 Category: House, Residential

Designed by FKLarchitects, A-House is located in Dublin, Ireland. A-House is a single-family house located on a mews lane in a Victorian suburb of Dublin city. The house is an exploration of diagonal space within an orthogonal form and the possibilities of integrating environmental concerns at a fundamental level.

The site was chosen for its proximity to schools, local shops, recycling facilities and work, allowing a daily life independent of the car or public transport. The house itself is large enough to support a family over a lifetime. Located in the former back garden of a three storey Victorian terraced house, the house is accessed from a lane to the south with the garden to the north.

A concrete tube provides the structural and spatial organisation and encloses the public areas of the house. Divided by joinery elements, the tube of space is twisted between ground and first floor to allow a relationship to the garden and daylight from above. This diagonal spatial relationship between the two floors allows a simultaneous experience of all dimensions of the house – length, breadth, height and extending into the surroundings in unexpected diagonal glimpses.

A-House has been designed to achieve an ‘A’ Building Energy Rating, with a particular emphasis on the use of passive systems. The concrete exposed internally contains GGBS Portland replacement cement, a low carbon product, and is sandblasted to accentuate the liquid nature of the material and to record the process of construction.

A-House by FKLarchitects