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Origami House, Ireland

Irish Rural Property Development – design by Jane D Burnside Architects in Ireland

19 Jun 2009

Origami House

Date built: 2009

Design: Jane D Burnside Architects

Origami House

Architects Comments

A journey over water: Constructed entirely on one level for lifetime access, the house and carport are a single composition of eight pavilions connected across the burn by the broad footbridge overlooking the dam, waterfall and burn – sometimes a raging torrent, others a calm trickle.

To the southerly dam, the house presents a monolithic façade with cut-out windows positioned to take in the views and sunlight yet control privacy from the road. To the northwest, the house opens up with a continuous series of five glazed gable corners onto a wide westerly terrace that embraces the open rural landscape.

The woodland approach is choreographed to reveal the dam framed through the carport pavilion. Crossing the footbridge under the embrace of an arching elder, you are surrounded by the sound of the mountain waterfall.

Conceived as a series of 7m square offset pavilions, the house is a thin transition space between this intimate, watery arrival and the grandeur of the west facing terrace embracing the fields beyond.

Upon entering the house, one expansive vaulted ceiling – a folded roof of many planes – a beautiful piece of origami -with a cacophony of light from the linear rooflight and walls of glass that embrace the terrace beyond.

The seven pavilions of the house, like a cluster of single storey cottages, are carefully woven against the woodland of the dam and beech trees. Only a single tree was removed to construct the house.