SECRETS OF THE INVISIBLE HOUSE
If Odos were a band, they’d have chalked up four hit records already this year and they might even be set to top the charts for Christmas. The Dublin architects’ latest release, “48A”, completed in time for the festive season, has just scooped the firm its third architectural accolade of the year, while proving popular with neighbours in Rathfarnham, who have become fascinated by this contemporary “wrap-around” house squeezed into the end of a tiny back garden site. No 48A is the latest of a clutch of oneoff homes completed by Odos this year, most of them winning awards. The design house kicked off the year with startling space-age atriums for adjoining period houses in Rathmines, Dublin, closely followed by a breathtaking modern house in Enniskerry, which earned it an Opus award. These were followed by an aluminium- clad home in Grangegorman, which gained it a highly commended citation at the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI) awards, and now the duo has just released No 48A St Patrick’s Cottages — bringing another highly commended citation from the AAI. All of which is music to the ears of its latest clients, a sound engineer Kevin Jennings who has worked with Boy George and Glen Matlock among others, and his wife, Anne, a painter and information technician. For a time, the couple just couldn’t believe that anyone could get a house of 1,600 sq ft (plus courtyard) into their 1,500-sq-ft end-of garden site in Rathfarnham. Fans of the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, the couple had previously added a glass-cube extension to their London home and were keen to take on another modern project. They hit on the idea of building at the end of their garden, but after two failed planning applications in a row, they decided to contact Odos. While almost one-and-a-half times as large as an average home, No 48A fits into an almost impossible space, also coming with a substantial courtyard garden with a 20ft-high bamboo plantation. From the front it seems almost invisible—perhaps one reason why the planners were happy to give it the go ahead. Callers to the Jennings have often become confused, striving to find the doorbell and concealed door in the wood-panelled surface. The entrance, meter doors and garage door run flush with the panelled frontage. Darrell O’Donoghue, of Odos, is pleased with the results. “We wanted to give the clients some privacy, despite the fact that the entrance would be pushed right out onto the footpath,” he says. “But what we love about this house is the fact that, once the door opens, visitors are genuinely shocked to find a house on three levels, with a big courtyard, and swathed in light throughout.” To exploit the site to best advantage, Odos called in its old friend, the JCB. “We dug downmore than half a floor to ensure that the clients could get the space they required while still keeping the roof low enough to keep the council satisfied.” The house is on a rounded bend behind a terrace of two-storey early- 20th-century cottages. Across the green are flat-roof former corporation homes with which the local authority wanted the building to have a relationship. “The planners were anxious that we didn’t set a precedent that would result in a load of higher buildings at the back of the old cottages that might challenge their dominance,” says O’Donoghue. “Our clients’ brief simply asked for a new family home with more light and space. The design and aesthetic of the building is a reflection of both its semi-industrial context — the garages and flat-roofed buildings — and the geometry of the site. There were also planning constraints on height, which, when applied to the brief, became one of the main drivers behind the building’s concept. This meant that the two-storey element was partially sunk below the ground line.” There are twomain living spaces, the courtyard and the open plan livingroom/kitchen which spans a cool 810 sq ft. These interlink via a window with vast sliding panels that open to make the indoor space itsownbalcony. The building’s upper floor overshoots the courtyard below to create a covered walkway. The courtyard is also set on two levels, a lower stage of rich timber and an upper of white marble chip, Japanese gardenstyle. The blue-grey outside walls match the recessed window frames, and the house and garden have been set off with giant bamboo shoots. The rich green stems and the soft rustling leaves help to create a Zen-like effect. The lower floor has two bedrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, a bathroom with shower room, a garage and generous storage space, which, as with the front and garage door, are hidden. Jennings, whose recent work includes the score to The Seer, the new Irish horror film which premiered earlier this month, had, along with Anne and daughter, Hannah, some input into the design. They choose theminimalist bathroom porcelain and ordered the bamboo floors, which have a bright spring to them. He loves the different “zones”, largely dictated by the views and the light. One is at the kitchen island, which is lit from above by a shaft of daylight not unlike a Star Trek transporter beam. “The house is lit so well that you really only need lights on when it’s pitch dark,” says Jennings. “The early morning is my favourite time, when the sun comes straight in the larger window. After midday, it comes in on the opposite side.We have solar panels on the roof for water heating, and underfloor heating. The windows are triple glazed, so the house retains heat. We moved in two weeks ago and haven’t had the heaters on yet.” In spite of its unusual charm and its space, a house like this doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Jennings estimates it at about €450,000 including site value. “It cost the same as if we had built a regular house on the site,” he says.
If Odos were a band, they’d have chalked up four hit records already this year and they might even be set to top the charts for Christmas. The Dublin architects’ latest release, “48A”, completed in time for the festive season, has just scooped the firm its third architectural accolade of the year, while proving popular with neighbours in Rathfarnham, who have become fascinated by this contemporary “wrap-around” house squeezed into the end of a tiny back garden site. No 48A is the latest of a clutch of oneoff homes completed by Odos this year, most of them winning awards. The design house kicked off the year with startling space-age atriums for adjoining period houses in Rathmines, Dublin, closely followed by a breathtaking modern house in Enniskerry, which earned it an Opus award. These were followed by an aluminium- clad home in Grangegorman, which gained it a highly commended citation at the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI) awards, and now the duo has just released No 48A St Patrick’s Cottages — bringing another highly commended citation from the AAI. All of which is music to the ears of its latest clients, a sound engineer Kevin Jennings who has worked with Boy George and Glen Matlock among others, and his wife, Anne, a painter and information technician. For a time, the couple just couldn’t believe that anyone could get a house of 1,600 sq ft (plus courtyard) into their 1,500-sq-ft end-of garden site in Rathfarnham. Fans of the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, the couple had previously added a glass-cube extension to their London home and were keen to take on another modern project. They hit on the idea of building at the end of their garden, but after two failed planning applications in a row, they decided to contact Odos. While almost one-and-a-half times as large as an average home, No 48A fits into an almost impossible space, also coming with a substantial courtyard garden with a 20ft-high bamboo plantation. From the front it seems almost invisible—perhaps one reason why the planners were happy to give it the go ahead. Callers to the Jennings have often become confused, striving to find the doorbell and concealed door in the wood-panelled surface. The entrance, meter doors and garage door run flush with the panelled frontage. Darrell O’Donoghue, of Odos, is pleased with the results. “We wanted to give the clients some privacy, despite the fact that the entrance would be pushed right out onto the footpath,” he says. “But what we love about this house is the fact that, once the door opens, visitors are genuinely shocked to find a house on three levels, with a big courtyard, and swathed in light throughout.” To exploit the site to best advantage, Odos called in its old friend, the JCB. “We dug downmore than half a floor to ensure that the clients could get the space they required while still keeping the roof low enough to keep the council satisfied.” The house is on a rounded bend behind a terrace of two-storey early- 20th-century cottages. Across the green are flat-roof former corporation homes with which the local authority wanted the building to have a relationship. “The planners were anxious that we didn’t set a precedent that would result in a load of higher buildings at the back of the old cottages that might challenge their dominance,” says O’Donoghue. “Our clients’ brief simply asked for a new family home with more light and space. The design and aesthetic of the building is a reflection of both its semi-industrial context — the garages and flat-roofed buildings — and the geometry of the site. There were also planning constraints on height, which, when applied to the brief, became one of the main drivers behind the building’s concept. This meant that the two-storey element was partially sunk below the ground line.” There are twomain living spaces, the courtyard and the open plan livingroom/kitchen which spans a cool 810 sq ft. These interlink via a window with vast sliding panels that open to make the indoor space itsownbalcony. The building’s upper floor overshoots the courtyard below to create a covered walkway. The courtyard is also set on two levels, a lower stage of rich timber and an upper of white marble chip, Japanese gardenstyle. The blue-grey outside walls match the recessed window frames, and the house and garden have been set off with giant bamboo shoots. The rich green stems and the soft rustling leaves help to create a Zen-like effect. The lower floor has two bedrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, a bathroom with shower room, a garage and generous storage space, which, as with the front and garage door, are hidden. Jennings, whose recent work includes the score to The Seer, the new Irish horror film which premiered earlier this month, had, along with Anne and daughter, Hannah, some input into the design. They choose theminimalist bathroom porcelain and ordered the bamboo floors, which have a bright spring to them. He loves the different “zones”, largely dictated by the views and the light. One is at the kitchen island, which is lit from above by a shaft of daylight not unlike a Star Trek transporter beam. “The house is lit so well that you really only need lights on when it’s pitch dark,” says Jennings. “The early morning is my favourite time, when the sun comes straight in the larger window. After midday, it comes in on the opposite side.We have solar panels on the roof for water heating, and underfloor heating. The windows are triple glazed, so the house retains heat. We moved in two weeks ago and haven’t had the heaters on yet.” In spite of its unusual charm and its space, a house like this doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Jennings estimates it at about €450,000 including site value. “It cost the same as if we had built a regular house on the site,” he says.