RIAI | Irish Architecture Awards

Citation

Dublin (over €3,000,000)

An essay in the ability of accomplished designers to reinvigorate the linear apartment block to create a place of community, where each apartment has space and privacy, but the whole is much more than the sum of the parts.

Architects Comment
The site of approximately 2.5 acres is bordered by the DART line to the north and the main Howth Road to the south and is enclosed on either side by long suburban gardens. The development comprises of an apartment building containing 1 & 2 bedroom apartments, self-contained duplex units and large penthouse apartments.

All of the units are accessed from the glazed atrium entrance hall, which unites the two blocks. The block to the north commands unrestricted views over the adjoining golf course while the units to the front overlook the landscaped communal gardens, which act to separate the higher and lower density elements of the scheme.

There are 16 individual houses comprising 4 distinct house types. Forming the public face of the development to Howth Road are large 3 storey town houses, behind which are smaller courtyard houses with roof terraces which share a ‘mews lane’ with 6 two storey terrace houses. Facing the apartment building are 3 substantial detached houses each planned around an integral patio, which forms an external room to each house.

The mature trees bordering the site and framing the entrance drive into the development have been carefully maintained and form the nucleus of the extensive landscaping to be undertaken now that construction is complete.

Client Comment
The site on which the development ”No. 150 Howth Road “ is built was acquired in sections by the MKN Property Group over a two-year period, When fully assembled the ‘L” shaped site consisted on c.2.3 acres. The site had a number of unique characteristics, which had to be taken into account by the architect in designing a suitable scheme.

These were:

Aspect onto Howth Road - where Edwardian style period houses dominate

Surrounding houses - mainly two storey in height

Overlooking of Clontarf Golf Club

The four “Period Style Townhouses” at the front of the site onto howth Road are in keeping with the traditional style of house design on the Howth Road.

Behind these houses are a mix of 3 bedroom courtyard houses and townhouses accessed off a mews lane and then the site opens to reveal the apartment building with a two and a half storey elevation on to the gardens and a four storey elevation onto the golf course. All carparking for the development is located underground with the exception of 8 spaces for the period townhouses.

The architects came up with an excellent design, which gave us as developers a good mix of units, i bed apts. to 4 bedroom three storey houses to offer to the market. The development highlights the fact that with good design, use of high quality materials in construction and extensive landscaping, high density planning can work without having a negative effect on the surrounding environment. Land is developers biggest cost and a scarce resource and therefore its efficient use is essential in today’s market.