‘Abhaile’ House by KMD Architecture in Ireland
December 26th, 2009 - Posted in Home Design Ideas
Designed by KMD Architecture, ‘Abhaile’ which in the Gaelic language is the word for ‘home’, that located in Dublin, Ireland, is the new ceramic-clad modern mews house. The clients’ brief was to create a new ‘home’ at the end of the garden of their large Victorian house near the centre of Dublin. The new home would be accessed from the rear lane on which other ‘mews’ type residential had been built.
The challenge was to provide, within a smaller envelope, the scale and elegance of our clients’ former home without resorting to a miniature version of the original. The three-storey section (basement and two upper floors), the elegant central roof-lit stairs and provision of abundant natural light to almost every room achieved a contemporary solution to the challenge of the project. The new home developed and improved the ‘mews’ typology by creating elegance in vertical circulation, abundance of natural light, additional accommodation (playroom, spa room, large utility room and significant storage) over and above the generous living accommodation which is often lacking in ‘mews’ house solutions.
To respect and respond to the siting of the house, which is viewed from the original Victorian house, the project envelope is ‘neutralised’ and carefully restrained by completing all solid elements, the flat roof and walling in a 600mm x 600mm grey ceramic tile system. All the elements of structure of the house are in in-situ concrete, insulated externally, which provides ‘thermal mass’ comfort and quiet acoustic performance to the internal environment.
Having risen to the challenges of the site and brief what gave KMD Architecture the greatest satisfaction was the fact that, upon completion of the project, our clients named the house ‘Abhaile’ (‘Abhaile’).
December 26th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Love the site and the architecture. Quick correction though – ‘abhaile’ really means ‘to home’ although you’ll find it as ‘home’ in the dictionary. ‘Tá mé ag dul abhaile’ means ‘I am going to home.’ The ‘a’ (probably a Celtic connection with the Spanish a) meaning ‘to’ attaches to ‘baile’ and that changes it to ‘bhaile.’ ‘Sa bhaile’ means ‘at home.’ That preposition does not attach to baile which by itself means home.
Baile can also mean town.
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:23 am
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