The house in Doolin was designed by Grafton Architects in the early 1990's, and provided a new typology within the Irish landscape being at once both contemporary and vernacular. It is an iconic houase, so when asked to provided some additonal accommodation for the new owners, a balance was sought between respecting the original design and making the changes that the client wished for. It was therefore very necessary to spend some time with the hosue, to understand what exactly Grafton had intended and how these intentions had been realised, as well as listening to the clients. It was decided that the elevation to the north / road shouldn't be altered, but that the courtyard to the rear was where the interaction between new and existing would happen.Part of the intention of this courtyard originally was to be a protected space, a walled garden that would buffet the worst of the elements comuing from the south west / sea allowing more delictae plants to thrive in the maritime climate. This space was reinterpreted as a cloistered space, rather than a walled garden, with a edge made around three sides, sometimes thick, sometimes thin, sometimes external sometimes internal. There was also a nod toward Asplunds Snellman house, which had seemd quite present in the original house, in providing a single storey extension angled off the main block.  Thus the final design becames a harder surfaced inhabited courtyard, with three new covered external spaces, each relating to the two new internal spaces, and the original kitchen. The materials and language were chosen with teh vernacular in mind - galvanised steel, simple timber, brushed concrete on the ground.

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