House magazine contains a host of glassy extensions to appeal to the new Ireland, says Emma Cullinan
Irish people have seen the light and houses across the country, both huge and tiny, are dispensing with heavy back walls and replacing them with extensions that use a feast of fenestration.
The new style of extension is clearly evident in House magazine, which is published in association with the RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) and so could be seen as that organisation's showcase of domestic architects.
Unlike other magazines, with their pages of sumptuously styled interiors, this is a more practical journal offering mainly images of the structures themselves, along with plan drawings.
Being published with the backing of Ireland's architectural institute, it's interesting to see what work they've chosen to highlight as representative of what Irish architects can do.
The current issue is filled with the types of extensions that were unusual, even 10 years ago, but which have become accepted. While a sneaky look into the back gardens of Ireland would probably turn up plenty of more classically styled extensions, in shades of yellow, grey or pink, we have become more used to clean, glassy, white render and timber add-ons that are clearly distinguishable from the original property (rather than a pastiche).
Irish houses lacked light for years: when you were coping with prevailing winds, thick walls were the order of the day, with small - often glass-free - windows letting in a chink of light and air. Georgian houses certainly had generous windows but at basement level they tended to be dark. Glassy rear extensions provide the perfect opportunity to engage with whatever nature is at the back of the house and people become evangelical when given access to the outside world through huge sliding glass doors and roof lights.
In film director Jim Sheridan's case, the view out of the back of his extended cottage in Dalkey, by de Blacam and Meagher Architects, is of water.
"As you look out at the ever-changing seasons through the glass windows, 150ft long, looking straight out to sea you feel isolated from the world behind," he writes.
Staying on Dublin's southern coast, FKL Architects designed a kitchen extension for a couple in Killiney which has become a hub. The interior designer who lives there now does her work at the kitchen counter lifted by views of the sea to one side and a small moss garden on the other. "We can't believe how lucky we are," she says
Other extensions in the magazine give their occupants similar changes of perspective on a brighter, airier, cleaner world, something that will be celebrated at the Modernism exhibition opening at London's Victoria and Albert Museum on April 6th.
Once people have seen the light there's no going back.
