The client had purchased this site in County Armagh with an existing planning permission, however the previous design did not meet the family’s requirements, nor did it respond to the orientation of the site and distant views toward Slieve Gullion, the Cooley Mountains and Dundalk Bay.

Re–designing the house within the parameters of the existing footprint, the building is broken up into several simple and distinct forms of a vernacular scale and proportion. These built elements are composed around a south west facing courtyard as a series of linked spaces. The main living area is to be one voluminous space as a backdrop to the everyday life of a growing family. It opens directly onto the sunset verandah and courtyard via sliding glazed doors – a fluid internal / external definition that encourages a properly rural family life.

Other openings were carefully placed to catch the sunrise, allow a view to the summits of the Cooley Peninsula, bring afternoon sun into the living space at school home–time and provide the lounge with views over the lights of Dundalk at night. The various scales, position and form of these openings also help define zones within this main space. A second, more intimate and secluded living space steps up the hillside out of this main space, offering a different orientation and perspective on the surrounding landscape.