House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath

House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Image 2 of 25House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Exterior Photography, FacadeHouse Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Interior PhotographyHouse Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Interior PhotographyHouse Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - More Images+ 20

Saintfield, United Kingdom
  • Architects: McGonigle McGrath
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  230
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2019
  • Photographs
    Photographs:Aidan McGrath
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  D-Line, The Rooflight Company, VMZINC
House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Image 7 of 25
© Aidan McGrath

Text description provided by the architects. The site is located in the gently rolling landscape of County Down. An existing assembly of barn and shed with double yard were the remnants of a small farmstead, the original farmhouse now a neighbouring plot. Approached by an overgrown lane, the enclosure created by the buildings and low walls only became apparent when at the yards, the predominant view from the lane being of the drumlins beyond.

House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Aidan McGrath
House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Image 22 of 25
Plan
House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Image 12 of 25
© Aidan McGrath

The brief was for a simple dwelling to meet the accommodation needs of a semi-retired couple and their children, now only occasional visitors. The connection to place and to the language of the derelict but elegant barn one of a number of defined objectives. Planning permission already existed for a new dwelling on the site.

House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Interior Photography
© Aidan McGrath

The house is conceived as 2 simple elements arranged in relation to the retained and re-used barn, to create the enclosure associated with vernacular clusters, and to permit visual and physical connections to the rolling landscape to the south and west. The first element, containing only bedrooms, is positioned to create the sloping arrival yard, and an enclosed space to the rear. The second living element is rotated to address the view. The entrance is positioned between these elements and allows the visitor the experience of both enclosure and landscape.

House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Image 2 of 25
© Aidan McGrath

Forms and materiality are derived from the language of local corrugated agricultural outbuildings, simple pitched roofs of zinc on masonry walls creating courts and yards, referenced to the datum set by the barn, all rising from an embedded concrete plinth. Internally, generous volumes reflect the existing barn and track the external forms, and views to the landscape are carefully framed. Subtle shifts in level separate the functions.

Construction methods were necessarily basic, and detailing is precise and restrained.

House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath - Interior Photography
© Aidan McGrath

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Cite: "House Lessans / McGonigle McGrath" 10 Jun 2019. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/918491/house-lessans-mcgonigle-mcgrath> ISSN 0719-8884

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