Kilgobbin
Kilgobbin Heights, Stepaside, Dublin
This project involved the re-design and refurbishment of a detached low-lying bungalow designed in an 1950's suburban American style in Stepaside. The brief was to create an A-rated house with space for our client's art and books.
The vacant house was left substantially untouched since originally built and needed a significant amount of internal re-planning and refurbishment to bring it up to modern living standards. Key issues to address were the lack of insulation, low energy performance and poorly defined spaces. Circulation took up a large percentage of the floor area and resulted in living spaces that did not make the most of the site and its' orientation.
We looked at various options in the design stage of the project but settled on creating a large kitchen/ dining/ living space in the centre of the house that had an increased ceiling height commensurate with the size of the room. This space separates the other entrance and living spaces to one side with bedrooms on the other. To the rear of the house, there was an existing secondary living space which was retained to cater for a live in carer.
A key strategy was to reorient the house to the north west/ south east axis of the site, so that the central space captured the changing daylight throughout the day and connected with the external environment. External walls were opened up to provide more glazing for better light. The result is a light filled house that makes the most of the orientation, site, and views of the surrounding hills.
“We worked with Ryan+Lamb Architects on a very substantial reworking of my late mother’s house in Kilgobbin Heights. My mother chose them on foot of a positive reference from a relative, for whom they had done work before. The house is a 1950s bungalow, one of a series of similar American-style suburban bungalows on the approach to Stepaside village. The house had not been substantially altered since it was originally built, with problems both in the layout and the structure of the building. My mother was planning to live in the house alone, with the possibility of having an occasional guest and also an understanding that a live-in carer might be required at some point. Michael Lamb of Ryan+Lamb met with my Mum on a number of occasions, first to understand what her wants and hopes her for the property, and then to work out what might be done to best meet those needs. This included a range of options, from simply correcting the structural problems (e.g. single-glazed windows, sub-standard heating) to completely re-modelling the interior of the house. In the end, Mum went for the latter, recognising that this proposal brought out the full potential of the property and would give her a place to enjoy in the years to come. This re-modelling reduced wasted space (e.g. corridors) and removed unneeded rooms, all the time respecting, preserving and even enhancing the external appearance of the property.
Having settled on a layout, Ryan+Lamb invited quotes from a number of builders and helped Mum to make a selection from this shortlist. We were very happy with the successful bidder, which again we put down to Ryan+Lamb’s advice. The build was completed almost on-time, a very positive result given the Covid restrictions that applied during much of the build phase. Even more importantly, the initial budget proved to be correct, with minor additional costs being counterbalanced by minor savings made in other areas of the build. My Mum was involved at all stages of the build, and was asked her advice throughout. For the most part, she relied on Michael’s knowledge and experience, believing that the vision she and Michael had developed should be delivered largely unchanged.
The result is stunning, both inside and out. Our only regret is that Mum did not get to live in the house for longer, but she absolutely loved it for the time that she was there. We have no hesitation in recommending Ryan+Lamb, both for their architectural vision and for their professional approach.
I am conscious that this is an overwhelmingly positive testimonial, so I would just like to confirm that there is no connection between Ryan+Lamb and our family, other than through their work. They really were great.”
— Ross Brennan