Saturday October 1 2022,
11:30 – 12:30
AND
12:30 – 13:30
Clifden Boat Club, Castle Demesne, Galway – H71 Y535
Note : Site PPE is not required for this site visit. Photography of exterior / interior of house is not permitted.
A2 Architects was established in 2005 and is an architectural practice with an abiding interest in quality of life and architecture for all. A2 are part of a team selected to represent Ireland at the forthcoming Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023.
With a desire to draw its own emphatic datum line panning from the contoured hills either side this house registers and faces the force seaward winds while creating the opportunity for sheltered microclimate within. A forty-two-metre long cast-in-situ concrete beam spans a dip in a local ridge to enable a clear-spanning living, dining and kitchen space at the core of this house. Two lower perpendicular flanking wings lie either side – one of the bedrooms and another of ancillary spaces. The resultant primary apertures made by the beam are in contrast to the remaining smaller window openings with their own expressed lintels.
The layout and landscaping of the sheltered courtyard garden make this another room of the house. Large, lichen-covered boulders found onsite, granite patios and local stone walls provide focal points for approaching the house and encourage the use of this space. This garden is anchored by trees and hedging saved when the site was cleared and contrasts with the nature of the far larger landscape beyond.