Three freestanding villa- style blocks on a unique greenfield site

DEER PARK, HOWTH, CO DUBLIN

CLIENT’S VISION

Glenveagh Homes appointed MCA Architects to deliver a high-quality Build to Sell residential scheme on a unique greenfield site in Howth, providing a mixture of 162 No. 1- to 3-bedroom apartments that capitalise on the panoramic views from the site across Dublin Bay and Howth Head. The built form of three freestanding villa-style blocks was conceived to achieve visual permeability throughout the scheme, connected by elegantly landscaped courtyards to complement the sylvan setting.

UNIQUE CHALLENGES

The unique greenfield site is defined to the north by a stone demesne wall along Howth Road, from which sloping topography ascends to the southern boundary approaching Howth Castle grounds. To the east are significant mature tree stands and to the west existing two- storey residential houses. The sensitive nature of all boundaries of the site presented a challenging set of constraints to respond to architecturally.

The three buildings have been designed to sit pavilion-like among the landscape, between deep courtyards to achieve desired separating distances, the forms are stepped and angled to further increase distances from the neighbouring houses to the west, producing visual permeability north to south. The massing of each building is broken down into distinct blocks with contrasting materials, where the 5 storey front blocks and the 6-storey rear blocks both have setback penthouse levels to visually reduce the scale as a response to the scheme’s sensitive context.

HOW CHALLENGES BECAME INNOVATIONS

The treatment of the buildings’ facades responds to the adjacent context and landscape: the light brick front block relates to the stone demesne wall and street- facing conditions. A protective external skin wraps the accommodation entirely, and the apartment balconies inhabit this wall. To the rear, as the site transitions into a parkland setting amongst a rich treescape, the balconies create a canopy emerging from the external dark brick wall, and project into the environment. To create an additional layer of screening to the facades, metal fins are distributed throughout the elevations.