Baltinglass, County Wicklow

DFG Architects were engaged by our client to design an extension and workspace on an undulating landscape in Co. Wicklow near the town of Baltinglass.

The Client had from the outset a strong sense of respect for the land purchased and a deep awareness of the significance of existing buildings which were inherited on the site. Discussions of the significant aspects of the site context, together with his own unique requirements, would inform the design approach.

The original house, a large predominantly single-storey building, is arranged around a courtyard partially open on its north-eastern boundary. The plan arrangement emerged from a desire to build on the memory of the farmhouse and shed structures which previously stood on this site and created this precise geometry.

The main concept behind the arrangement was to create two interesting routes for the client to walk from ‘home’ to ‘work’. The client requested spaces that displayed a comprehensive collection of art. This collection of memories becomes a coherent connection with the dwelling house through the activation of the space between the original structures and the re-employment of the granite stone used in their original construction for the new building. The house has been constructed using a simple palette of materials comprising granite, natural slate, copper, and timber windows.

In leaving the living quarters access to the workspace is chosen either through the external courtyard space or along a gallery corridor which leads to the morning room and a sculptural staircase, this links to a sculpture gallery before descending to the workspace below.