A Light Touch

Type: Historic Structure Extension & Refurbishment

Client: Private

Location: Blackrock, Co. Dublin

Stage: Tender

conservation architect dublin for renovation and extension of a protected structure
A lush garden with a wooden deck in the foreground, a small creek with greenery on both sides, and historic house in the background
Landscape architectural plan with trees, water features, pathways, and various landscape elements.

A Light Touch tests the parameters of minimum fabric removal and sensitive structural expansion within a historic context. Grounded in our conservation expertise, the architectural response rejects standard intrusive construction methods.

This detached 1860s stone & brick house is nestled discreetly in the heart of a residential area in Blackrock Co. Dublin. The house reveals itself as you cross the footbridge over the Carysfort River.

To expand the footprint responsibly, the new light-filled extension is constructed from timber and is intentionally elevated on low-impact structural stilts. This design protects the site’s delicate micro-ecology, allowing natural biodiversity to flourish uninterrupted underneath while utilising a strictly renewable and reusable material palette.

Architectural site plan of a building surrounded by landscaped area, pathways, and a water feature, viewed from above.

The ground floor layout of the existing house was problematic, interventions over the years had resulted in a disjointed and disconnected series of rooms.

Surprisingly, considering the beautiful setting of this historic structure, the existing house had limited physical connections to the lush gardens and river.

Modern, non-structural layers were stripped back to restore the original spatial clarity of the existing cottage. Through minimal removal of historic fabric the potential of this house could be realised.

Architectural drawing of a two-story stone house with a gabled green metal extension, trees, and people sitting on the deck outdoors.
A brick and stone house with multiple windows surrounded by greenery and a small stone bridge in the garden.
An old stone house with a slate roof and brick accents, surrounded by lush green trees, bushes, and grass, with some windows boarded up.
A detailed architectural floor plan of a house, including rooms, furniture, stairs, and surrounding outdoor areas with trees and a stream.

Our design opened up and expanded the ground floor creating a series of interconnecting rooms with more connection to the external spaces beyond.

The storey and a half extension mimics the proportion of the main wing of the existing house.

The extension captures the sun from sunrise until sunset and houses a new family bathroom, sauna and music room, opening onto a West-facing terrace.

Architectural drawing of a house with trees and people outside.
An old stone house with a gray-shingled roof, brick chimney stacks, and tall, narrow windows, surrounded by dense green bushes and plants, with a cloudy sky above.
Architectural site plan with trees, a stream, pathways, and buildings.

The existing house is reconfigured to provide a generous kitchen and dining room, a home office and a snug. The careful relocation of existing spaces along with the addition of new rooms allows for new visual connections between adjacent spaces as well as the garden beyond.

Natural materials are used throughout the renovation and timber framed extension including exposed timber joists, lime plaster and stone.

Architectural drawing showing the cross-section and elevation of a house with trees in the surroundings.
A lush garden with a large tree on the left, shrubs, and green grass. There is a stone wall in the background and a narrow dirt path winding through the garden.
Exterior view of a textured stucco wall with two windows, one on top of the other, and a squirrel box on the wall near the top window. Vines grow around the windows and wall.