DUA’s reworking of a modest rear extension in Enniskerry changes an overlooked corner of a period terrace into a richly layered domestic landscape, where architecture, furniture, water and planting integrate to reconnect your home with its gardens.
DUA has actually finished the refurbishment and reconstruction of a rear cooking area and dining extension to a period end-of-terrace house in Enniskerry, County Wicklow. Named Cúl an Tí– Irish for “the back of your home”– the job occupies the footprint of an existing single-storey extension that had actually reached the end of its life. Instead of pursuing extra floor area, the architects concentrated on reconsidering the relationship between your home and its surrounding landscape, changing a series of disconnected and underused spaces into a more cohesive domestic environment.
The intervention demonstrates how a reasonably modest project can have a significant influence on daily life. Formerly separated from the primary living spaces, a disregarded side garden has been drawn into the centre of the experience of the home. The kitchen and dining-room now extend visually beyond their physical boundaries, developing a better relationship with the gardens and producing a higher sense of openness without increasing the building’s footprint.
A corten steel screen changes a conventional boundary wall in between the rear and side gardens, serving as a filtering device to moderate views, motion and light across the site. Formed from 2 balanced out layers of vertical steel fins, it develops altering perspectives through the landscape while keeping a degree of personal privacy. Steel flat bars covering between the screens supply structural assistance and produce a framework for climbing plants, enabling the architecture to end up being significantly entwined with the garden as it grows. Water is utilized throughout as both a useful and curatorial component. Rainwater gathered from the roofing system is channelled through a custom-made corten steel spout into a reflecting pond placed alongside the screen. From here it overruns into a plan of interconnected steel vessels before returning to the surrounding landscape. The system develops a noticeable link in between roofing, garden and ground, while presenting noise, movement and reflection into the daily life of your house. The pond has likewise developed a brand-new eco-friendly habitat, supporting water planting and attracting wildlife.
The architects approached the interior as an extension of the landscape beyond. A corten steel storage unit forms one side of the dining area and continues directly from the garden screen outside, blurring the limit between in and out. Custom plywood joinery, strong lumber worktops and a brass splashback offer warmth and texture, while incorporating storage, seating and kitchen functions into a combined composition. The reconfigured cooking area now faces the garden, positioning views of water, planting and altering light at the centre of everyday activities.
A carefully positioned vertical window alongside the dining bench frames views through the garden and towards the street beyond. Seated at the table, residents experience filtered peeks through the corten fins, reflections throughout the pond and the movement of planting in the wind. Above, a circular rooflight presents shifting patterns of daylight and sky into the room. Aligned with the dining table and corten joinery below, it serves as an exact geometric intervention that records altering sunlight throughout the day and, at particular seasons, moonlight after dark.
Hidden lighting incorporated within the joinery, rooflight and pond extends these results into the evening. Surface areas, planting and reflections are lit up without exposing the source of the light itself, reinforcing the task’s emphasis on environment and subtle sensory experience. Through a mindful choreography of architecture, furnishings, landscape, water and light, Cúl an Tí shows how the experience of a home can be essentially changed without including a single square metre of flooring location. The outcome is a place that continues to develop through weather condition, growth, seasonal change and daily profession.