Walled Garden House

Architect: Steve Burke
Interior Design: Steve Burke
Structural Engineer: Malachy Walsh & Partners
Assigned Certifier: Malachy Walsh & Partners
Main Contractor: Jerry Fitzmaurice Developments
Joinery Subcontractor: M.M.S. Reg. Carpenters Ltd
Windows & Doors Subcontractor: Nordan
Metal Frame Subcontractor: MFC
MVHR Subcontractor: Nilan
Electrical Subcontractor: G Moriarity and Sons Electrical
Plumbing Subcontractor: Seamus Moynihan
PV Subcontractor: PVGen
Landscaping Subcontractor: Designer Landscapes
Tiling Subcontractors: Kingdom Tiles & James Sugrue
Photographer: F22 Photography
Completion Date: October 2022
Location: Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Clients: Private

The defining feature of the walled garden house has in fact nothing to do with the house itself but with what surrounds it. The site is populated with the ruins of multiple old stone sheds and outhouses. These ruins were retained and restored with a considerate touch to retain the history of the site and form the backdrop of the new building insertion of whose purpose was to celebrate these walls.

This new insertion manifests as two distinct “A” framed volumes, one of these is a 2 storey volume where the upper floor steps out from the lower floor to create a covered external entrance walkway and the other is a simpler single storey volume. These 2 volumes are connected with a flat roofed single storey element that gives the 2 distinct structures space to stand independent of one another and allow light to penetrate deep into the walled garden. This deliberate breakdown of a larger structure into smaller distinct volumes helps to reduce the scale of the building to reflect the scale of the various existing surrounding stone structures. In plan, the new insertion is a mirror “L” shape of the existing stone ruins to create a sheltered walled garden between the new and old.

The building's materials are a celebration of a rural vernacular craft and tactility. Stone, corrugated metal and tyrolean plaster sit harmoniously together to form a sharp and crisp modern interpretation of a traditional agricultural shed. The stone cladding used on the lower section of the new building is reclained from the fallen stone walls on site. It is crafted in a modern manner to highlight the contemporary addition to the site while also ensuring cohesion with the existing stone walls. Atop this stone cladding sits a 900mm high tactile tyrolean plaster band that runs around the entire house, tying the differing volumes and materials of the house together. A black corrugated metal clads the upper storey of the 2 storey volume while also cladding the roof of both the single and 2 storey volumes. The crisp detailing of the corrugated metal elevates it above its typical association with agricultural buildings while still retaining a connection to the site's past. The dark reflective surfaces of the corrugated metal also recede visually in deference to the surroundings.

The house, which has been designed with a modern take on a traditional vernacular skin, is built with very modern methods of construction to the highest sustainable specification.. The house is built using prefabricated panels of light gauge metal steel, it is super insulated, it has triple glazed windows, a mechanical heat recovery system, an external air source heat pump, it is extremely air tight and has roof mounted PV panels. The house achieved an Irish Building Energy Rating (BER) of A1, the highest possible grade.