CONTACTS/ SUPPLIERS


ARCHITECT/PROJECT MANAGEMENT/ LANDSCAPING EDEN Architects www.edenarchitects.ie


TIMBER ENGINEER Furness Partnership furnesspartnership.com


MASS TIMBER SPECIALIST G-Frame Structures www.g-frame.co.uk


ENERGY CONSULTANT Passivate www.passivate.ie


MAIN CONTRACTOR Marr Construction


MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR Lynch Plumbing


ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR Mooney Electrical


AIRTIGHTNESS CONTRACTOR Aerzeal www.aerzeal.com


AIRTIGHTNESS TESTER Greenbuild www.greenbuild.ie


CLT MANUFACTURER Stora Enso www.storaenso.com/en


TIMBER FIXINGS SUPPLIER Rothoblaas www.rothoblaas.com


WALL INSULATION Rockwool www.rockwool.com/uk


THERMAL BREAKS Roadstone / Passive Sills www.roadstone.ie passivesills.com


ROOF INSULATION Ecological Building Systems / Unilin


ecologicalbuildingsystems.com www.unilin.com


FLOOR INSULATION KORE www.kore-system.com


possible and using ceiling height variations. Even though the house seems quite compact from the outside, internally the living space is up to four metres high, whereas spaces like the mezzanine and bathrooms have lower ceilings and this combination works really well. The house is in a relatively inner-city neighbourhood located off a main road on a very quiet ‘Lane’ known as Avenue Road. ‘Lanes’ are part of Dublin’s architectural vernacular. They run in between both the grand historic streets and more humble streets which were built around Dublin’s canals between 1750 and 1920, originally providing rear access for the ‘big houses’ and accommodating their stables and garages. Over time mechanics, furniture makers and printing businesses moved in and many of these workshops still exist which adds greatly to the mix between the people who live and work there. Teach Spruis is the second last dwelling on a terrace to be developed on Avenue Road. The houses here are set back from the thoroughfare and this has allowed the Lowe’s to incorporate a front outdoor space including a parking space and a bike store as well as a rear garden. “Our outdoor strategy for the house was for two outdoor spaces or ‘rooms’ in the sense that they have walls high enough for the outdoor space to feel contained. A third outdoor space on the roof gives a surprise as you mount the stairs and brings light in from above. On entering the house the ground fl oor is arranged around a south facing double-height central space at the front and kitchen/dining room to the rear. Three upper half-fl oors contain three bedrooms and a mezzanine study which are stepped around a central stair that subtly


links and merges the living spaces with short half-storey runs. The stepping upper fl oors have created a house in section that is inspired by the architecture of Adolf Loos, an early pioneer of ‘raumplan’ architecture where the proportions of each room are optimised to suit its function. As Loos advocated, the house has a simple


external appearance without any unnecessary ornamentation, while the interior in contrast is much richer and celebrates the natural patterns of materials, in particular wood, brick and stone. The richness of the interiors was also inspired by the famous Californian Case Study houses built between 1945 and 1966, of which the Eames ouse by Charles and ay ames is probably the most famous.


The north/south light across the plan has been


carefully considered. round fl oor living spaces are connected by tall double doors that bring in light from the south to the north side of the house. The upper fl oors benefi t from a large window onto the terrace at the top of the stairs and roof lights that bring light deep into the centre of the 12m deep plan. “The roof is quite low so gets a lot of sun for three seasons. The window and the door out from that on the north side of the house is fairly large, which for Passive House might be considered irresponsible, but it was important to put that window in that location to get the terrace and the house to work together, ohn-Barry explains. “Our overall design concept was for two large social or family rooms, one at the front and the other at the back with indoor/outdoor spaces which can work separately or in unison, he continues. “To avoid changes in level or anything that would compromise the fl ow of those two big spaces we stayed with the simplicity and


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