Architects’ new home made to measure on Monkstown corner

Architect Gary Tynan, was working on a neighbouring project in Dublin, when he first came across the Monkstown site that was to become the location for his future family home.

At the time, Tynan, his wife - his fellow architect and interior designer Claire Lepoivre - and their two young daughters, were living in London. The couple had moved there in 2009 when the building industry in Ireland was in the doldrums.

The building project has run smoothly, with Tynan taking the lead on the earlier stages of the design and build, and Lepoivre joining the later commutes from London to get stuck in as the project developed

London, for the Tynan-Lepoivres, was a vibrant hub of design, where the construction industry was healthy, with exciting building projects still being tackled in what Gary describes as, “a bit of a London bubble ahead of the Brexit referendum.”

The couple's individual careers flourished, as they worked separately on various high-end residential work, as well as cultural projects in London and overseas. Lepoivre's projects included work on the new Royal Opera House and a museum in Nantes, France, before she started to shift her focus more into the area of interior design work.

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Tynan went on to set up his own architecture practice (Studio 304 Architecture) and highlights over the following years included winning the 2017 award from the New London Architecture for the best house extension in London. In 2018 he gave a TEDx talk on solutions to the housing crisis in London.

On a practical and personal level, London was ideal, located between Tynan's home town of Dublin and an easy Eurostar link to Lepoivre's family in Paris. The couple married, welcomed their daughters Adele and Anna into the world and enjoyed their lifestyle and stimulating careers.

Roll on Brexit, young children, and a recovering building industry in Ireland. The pair liked what they were seeing in Dublin. After securing the Monkstown site they commissioned the services of the team at Perfect Homes, and building work got underway last year.

The building project has run smoothly, with Tynan taking the lead on the earlier stages of the design and build, and Lepoivre joining the later commutes from London to get stuck in as the project developed. It was hands on, with both determined to see the project through in an efficient and timely manner.

"We've been lucky," says Tynan. "When I worked on the other project nearby we were still living in London. Perfect Homes were on that job, and when I saw their work, and what they could do when they joined forces with a really good joinery company, Abington Design House, I knew they had the sort of skillset and attention to detail we needed. The landscaper on the project was SAP landscapes, who brought my landscape design together in the exterior."

Tynan was setting the bar high but he was itching to take it on and create a space that met all the needs of a design-focused family, who also needed a home that would work with young children. It was also a priority that the 2000 sq ft four bed worked within the framework of its setting and surroundings.

The site is located on a prominent corner-site in Monkstown with a 16m deep rear garden, within a conservation area and at the intersection of two very different roads. Tynan was keen to see the project reflect and complement the various surrounding heritage and other components, whilst embracing a design impetus that is boldly modern.

Tynan wanted to pay particular attention to the period house next door, which was an end of terrace with plaster quoins. The new build is stepped back to display the original plaster work and reveal part of the gable end of the terrace

The lead in on one side of the site was from the long Monkstown Road, which features a variety of architectural styles with no coherent building line - houses stepped randomly back from or towards the road. Around the corner is the beautiful Georgian square of Belgrave Square East – which presented a more strict architectural rhythm with the row of traditional terraced houses lining the square. Both roads were to play a part in influencing the design.

At the outset, Tynan also wanted to pay particular attention to the period house next door, which was an end of terrace with plaster quoins. The new build is stepped back to display the original plaster work and reveal part of the gable end of the terrace. Tackling the space then in terms of volume, it’s broken down towards both street elevations in order to respond to the corner site and provide an appropriately scaled end to the terrace that, as Tynan describes it, evolves naturally and has a relationship with the materials that are in the surroundings.

The finished exterior, whilst offering three quite distinctly different elevations, is one that finds a cohesion that is almost surprising and certainly delightful within the variety of design challenges (and adventures!) it rises to. Viewing the home from Monkstown Road gives a perspective that’s bravely subverted around the corner when the building lends itself to the traditional surroundings, while simultaneously maintaining an independent, decidedly modern spirit.

An existing granite boundary wall was repaired and extended to define the garden level and provide a base for the plastered elements above.

The particular attention to detail applied to the build led to decisions such as the nod to the traditional habit in the area of painting the fronts of houses and leaving the back as plain concrete to avoid some of the work and upkeep. While the front and side of the Tynan-Lepoivre building are plastered in a white render, the back is rendered in grey.

The family moved into their new home a few months ago, after wrapping up their commitments in London. With the help of their particularly social eldest daughter - three-year-old Adele - they’re happily settled into the neighbourhood, with Adéle making sure that Mum, Dad, and little sister - one-year-old Anna, are getting to know other nearby families.

Internally, the layout and that same ongoing attention to detail has produced a space that is working well. Design-wise, the professional couple are very proud of what they’ve accomplished. Perhaps though, an equally important accomplishment when it comes to the reality of actually inhabiting a space, is that, as well as creating a real looker of a house that is very beautiful, diligently well thought out and finished to an impeccable standard; they have also succeeded in managing to create a house that “feels” great.

Because it’s a corner house with elevations in three directions, there is light coming in from the east, west and south, so it’s very bright. On the ground floor level the ceiling heights reach three metres, which adds to that sense of airy lightness. At the same time though, it feels intimate.

“I’m amazed really,” says Tynan. “Because of the triple glazing we used and the level of insulation you have to put into modern buildings, it’s got the really nice feeling of being light and airy, but really cosy at the same time. We all love it, we’ve had nice feedback from neighbours and I think people genuinely feel it’s a good addition to the area. We feel that we’ve built something that has a positive relationship with its surroundings, which is really important to us.”

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