One Up Two Down

One Up Two Down is an urban courtyard house in central Dublin built on a very tight budget. The site was carved out of an existing plot along the filled-in Royal Canal, which is now a linear park. The scheme fills the rectangular site and maximises open space, with loft-like living space on the upper floor for privacy, light and views, and bedrooms below, with a studio beyond the central courtyard.

Nature is at the heart of the house. The design includes a walled and stepped front garden, a planted central courtyard, roof terrace over the studio, and upper roof behind parapets sheltering a sky garden, all sympathetically planted by the client. Bricks from the original ruined house on the site were salvaged and re-used to anchor the front façade, which is a screen of iroko ribs over a glass and timber elevation. Iroko ribs continue along the upper level of the central courtyard, angled to bring in sunlight and screen views.

Internally, finishes are austere and simple – polished concrete floors, white-painted exposed rafters, iroko windows and doors. A light-filled staircase at the entrance leads to the main living space, stretching east-west between an island kitchen and a seating area around the stove, with views to the studio terrace.