Excerpt: Teach Cnoic Uí Gogáin by Fuinneamh Workshop Architects is a refurbishment and extension of a 1920s cottage that responds to landscape, memory, and movement. The design acknowledges the proportion and form of the existing cottage, while a “slipped” plan creates a serpentine arrangement of spaces, extending the spatial experience of the house through layered views and carefully considered transitions.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Teach Cnoic Uí Gogáin sits on the southern side of Goggins Hill to the west of Cork city. Within the hill is one of 19th century Ireland’s greatest industrial structures; the tunnel for the south coast train line. When completed in 1851 this brick arch tunnel, at 828m in length, was the longest train tunnel in Ireland.
The client’s brief was to refurbish and extend his 1920s cottage on Goggin’s Hill. The new extension acknowledges the proportion and form of the existing cottage. A “slipped” plan creates a serpentine arrangement of exterior spaces. A series of diagonal views created by adopting this plan extend the spatial experience of the house.
A south-west facing patio off the dining space creates an outdoor room to be enjoyed in the summertime. To the front of the house a low lying wall creates a welcoming entry courtyard on arrival. Ideas gleaned from the layout of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (1951) and the layering of spaces to create depth in Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio (1936) directly influenced the plan of the house.
The windows in the dining space and living room have been placed carefully to allow the views across the Carrigdhoun valley to be enjoyed from within the house. Due to the elevation of the house on the hill, this vista changes dramatically depending on whether you are sitting or standing. When you stand, the valley reveals itself and takes priority, but when you sit the sky takes precedence. To sit at the kitchen table and look at the sky is a very special experience.
Internally, the profile of the archway, which marks the transition between the cottage and the new extension, is a scaled down profile of the train tunnel’s arch. The client has fond childhood memories of trekking through this now disused train tunnel with the local scout group. Thus, walking under this arch is imbued with added meaning for him.
Externally, white painted walls act as a canvas for the ever-changing shadows of the sun to rest. To the east the Douglas Fir trees cast “soft”, dappled shadows on the shed in the morning, while in the courtyard the protruding porch creates a play of “geometric” shadows on the gable of the house in the afternoon. Visiting the house for the first time, it is the external spaces between the buildings which generate the most curiosity for the visitor. These places are simultaneously both open and enclosed. The gap between the shed and the extension frames vistas of the landscape to the north west and south east.
The material palette for the external finishes of the house is limited to simple vernacular materials: slate, plaster, wood and local Cork limestone chippings. The selection of red for the windows and doors, reflects the use of the dark reds on the old farm building’s doors.
Finally, the door handle which was designed for the front door, is narrow at the base in order to take a child’s hand and widens to the top for an adult’s hand. A curve to the rear of the handle mimics the shape of a cupped hand, while the flat front follows the line of the user’s thumb. The handle has been polished for softness of touch, yet the indents on the surface are reminders of the casting process.
Casting was carried out using the traditional bronze casting technique of employing sand and horse dung to form the mould before pouring the molten alloy. Through use, the memory of the form becomes familiar to the hand and after contact, the scent of the bronze lingers on the palm of the user’s hand.
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