Landscape Room

The project has generated interest and discourse in relation to the search for design strategies for outdoor spaces that function climatically in the Irish / UK context but also form strong experiential connections to these landscapes. This project explores how to create spaces that mediate between the human/ domestic scale and the scale and climatic conditions of rural/ naturalistic landscapes, in this case between an existing limestone cottage which had a defensive relationship to the exterior, and the sublime scale of the greater landscape. This took the form of a Landscape Room, combining the qualities and expectations of internal and external spaces.This is positioned in the discourse relating to “outdoor rooms” and the poetic tensions between inside and outside, architecture and landscape. Although this has been explored in other cultural/ climatic contexts. (e.g. Australia) It is relatively un-explored in a sophisticated manner on the domestic scale in the contemporary Irish/UK context.Climatically, the combination of sun penetration and protection from wind and light rain has made this outdoor space habitable throughout the European summer with the limestone of the walls and terrace holding the suns warmth into the evenings. The elements of water, stone, and vegetation (Lake, Cliffs and Woodland) visible from this landscape room were articulated in the terrace in the form of the pond, planted bed, and limestone seating platforms. This creates a visual dialogue between the micro-landscape of the terrace and the macro-landscape of the surrounding valley.