“All-Weather House” in Ireland | ROEWUarchitecture

Today’s interesting family house is located in the town of Mullingar, Ireland. At 160 m² (1,722 ft²) it is the largest house we’ve featured. However it has four bedrooms so it just barely meets our criteria for what we consider small.

Stephen Roe and Chiafang Wu of ROEWUarchitecture designed the home, wrapping it in a continuous skin of cedar shingles that blurs the boundary between wall and roof. They folded the cedar skin into a double-gable form that complies with local requirements for new construction to blend in with the form and scale of traditional cottages in the area. The architects further manipulated the cedar skin by pulling it outward to create a protective overhang for the door leading to the terrace. The result is a house with an organic, informal appearance.

The front door opens onto the end of a hallway that runs the length of the house, separating the mostly public areas on the left from the private areas on the right. The hallway has an undulating, cloud-like ceiling composed of dozens of suspended angled fins which conceal several skylights. On clear sunny days, sharp beams of light shine through the fins. At other times the light is more diffuse, being deflected and bounced by the angled fins. The far end of the hallway is one large window, offering occupants an enticing view of greenery as they go about their daily routines. One entire wall has been devoted to storage, with built-in cabinets running the length of the hallway.

The living room, dining room and kitchen are all open to each other. However sliding panels can be used to close off the living room for maximum flexibility. A small sunroom off the living room contributes to passive solar heating of the home. While most of the house has plain white walls and ceiling, there are unexpected material choices in key places: The fireplace surround appears to be of stainless steel, the hallway storage is semi-concealed with translucent doors, and the kitchen floor is a bright green. Last but not least, be sure to check out the, uh, interesting bathroom colors in the gallery.

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Photographs and plans courtesy of ROEWUarchitecture. Via Archilovers.

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