Laois field of dreams: unique mansion up for auction with €300,000 guide price

First launched in 2016, this most unusual offering was designed and constructed by Michael and Heather Rice on an 11-acre site outside Mountrath in Co Laois.

Dreamfields was the vision of architect Michael Rice, who also instructs in sacred geometry – a practice that holds nature to be the mother of design. Its near 10,000sq ft is built around the concept of the golden ratio or Fibonacci sequence, which is represented by the Greek letter pi, and is found in all aspects of nature, plants, weather structures, star systems and animals. It is even found in humans: a study in 2019 by Johns Hopkins researchers in the US found that dimensions of the human skull also followed dimensions of the golden ratio.

The five-storey-over-basement home, constructed around 2010, has nine bedrooms, with egg-shaped sleeping quarters for children set within an undulating roofline.

It was designed to be a family home and workplace in addition to being an international architectural school to house guests, so would work well as a business. Given its rural location and substantial plot, it could make a fabulous yoga centre or similar retreat – far from the madding crowd within a building designed with nature in mind.

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It was last on the market in 2016 seeking €700,000, considerably less than the €1.2 million estimated cost of its construction. Timber-frame built, it has some amazing internal features, especially its woodwork, and will now require completion. At that time the owners, who have since gone their separate ways, estimated it would cost €30,000-€100,000 to complete the property, depending on the specification. But, given its bold design, it has the potential to be one of the most eye-catching properties in the country.

It requires a kitchen and, while it is wired for solar power, roof panels will need to be installed. Prospective buyers should bear in mind that all the aforementioned estimates are at 2016 rates, which have since increased significantly. It’s also worth remembering that the property has lain idle for a number of years now.

Off a “shamanic” reception are five reception rooms, an office and studios along with the nine bedrooms.

It gets the name Dreamfields as it was the reverie for the Rice family. Now reduced to sell with an advised minimum value €300,000, it will be auctioned by BidX1 on March 30th, when it could become a new field of dreams through the vision of a new owner.