Client
Private
Year
2011
Services
HomesThe Concept
An early project by Director Aisling Rusk, this is an extension to a 200 year old Grade B1 listed, thatched cottage (which features in C.E. Brett’s Buildings of County Antrim). The brief was for a bright and spacious garden room that would allow the clients to enjoy their garden and views. A utility room was also required. We wanted to create something that respected the old house yet at the same time was clearly new and distinct.
The solution was a glazed, oak framed building which is separated from the existing cottage by two glass links, enclosing a small courtyard garden between. The utility room, whose ideal location blocked the view to Lough Neagh, conceals its units within a linear timber box. When not in use, the box is ‘closed’ and two large windows allow inhabitants to gaze from the sunroom through the space to the view of fields and lough beyond. When the utility room is being used, large moving walls/doors open to reveal the units, and in so doing they cover the windows, creating an enclosed working room. Oak and detail design were expertly provided by the Green Oak Framing Company.
The cottage was also modernised and restored, to include internal alterations, re-thatching, replacing a slate dormer with a new, thatched eyebrow dormer and lime rendering (replacing previous cement harling), which lets the walls breathe as was intended.
This project featured on Season 2 of RTE’s Home of the Year, and in several publications, including Living Design (Spring 2015) and the cover of Selfbuild (Spring 2014).