Flecks of green, grey and yellow Connemara marble greet us from the polished concrete floor in the hallway. It is marketed as “Irish green” abroad, and as the homeowner quips, “if we were French, we would’ve kept the regionality”.

We’ve entered the impressive I-shaped home through a humble, wind- sheltered door and porchway at the side of the house, and we’re standing in the end that houses the utility rooms of the home: laundry room, study and guest bathroom. The bedrooms are at the other end of the I.

The site itself is rural and the low-lying home is built into a slight depression between two hills. Invisible from the road, the house only reveals itself to visitors after traversing a small, wildflower-lined knoll where a 32-metre-long, single-pour concrete beam aligns with the landscape and gives grounding to floor-to-ceiling windows that reveal views of the Twelve Bens to the east and the Atlantic to the west.

Now retired, the homeowner is a local and lives here with his partner. A former tech company executive, he managed product design teams in Europe, the US, Japan, Korea and China, creating products for many industries including consumer electronics, automotive, appliances and medical. “I enjoy using simple, honest, natural materials,” he explains. “As they are somehow both timeless and get better as they age. I like a home to be calm, warm and inviting, a place in which you can truly relax.”

Japan was always of particular interest. “The ease with which some Japanese homes sit quietly in the landscape is breathtaking.” However, over the last 30 years, the homeowner spent holidays and weekends visiting houses, gardens, public buildings and museums around the world, all of which informed his design view. “I have lived and worked in many countries and relished the understated design aesthetic of each. While Japan was an important influence, we also were inspired by the buildings, furniture, lighting and interior design of Italy, Portugal, Germany and Denmark.”

An eight-millimetre shadow gap recurs throughout the house, at the junctions of fitted furniture to walls, ceilings and floors. The precision, thought and craft is quietly apparent and the homeowner is quick to praise. “It was difficult to achieve, and its successful execution is down to the relations between A2 Architects, Sean Burke as master builder, and his incredible team of subcontractors.”

Rarely do I see a homeowner’s eyes light up when talking about their builder – especially after a lengthy project – but this is the homeowner’s second project working with Sean Burke. “He is uncompromisingly determined to make sure his buildings are perfect, and they are. That is due to his exceptional skills as a builder, but also because he is meticulous and takes well-deserved pride in his work. Sean has built a trusted network of excellent local subcontractors, all of whom share his focus on quality work, openness to new ideas, and the highest standards. We cannot recommend him highly enough.”

Originally there was a much-loved cottage on-site, designed by the couple’s now deceased friend, Mary Cafferkey, and which was built in the early 1990s. It too had a central dual aspect kitchen/living/dining space, with more intimate spaces to the sides. However due to building technology of the time, it was poorly insulated, the windows were failing and it had little space for visiting family and friends. A2 Architects were enlisted, and visited the site on a number of occasions to closely understand the topography, views, setting and how the homeowners lived. “Caomhán [Murphy] stayed in the house for a week, and what he learned from staying at the original cottage informed a deeper discussion between ourselves and A2.”

The homeowner credits the entire team at A2, with special mention to Peter Carroll who is sole director of the practice today. “Peter is a real public servant, who is passionate about how architecture can enrich our environment both through public or private projects. For him, collaboration with the client is an integral part of the evolution of the project. He is also a great teacher and we learnt so much from him as we went through the design process. He once told me, ‘our goal is not to give you what you want, but to exceed what you want’.”

The couple are also keen gardeners, so successful landscaping was deemed as important a project as the house itself. In the shelter of the courtyard, extra drainage has been installed, meaning the landscaping runs right up to the walls, softening the building’s profile. “Site contractor Peter Lee created gentle contours for the meadow, carefully moved established hedges, shrubs and trees, shifted boulders to create focal points and provided soil and seaweed to improve the thin Connemara soil.”

Stone masons Mickey Mannion and Damian Gorham repaired the old stone walls and built new ones, so although the house is just a couple of years old, it looks like it has always been here. The couple’s friend, landscape architect Tim Lally of Chicago, helped design the paving areas around the house, which are done in Wicklow granite. On our late-summer visit, it is flourishing with fiery-stalks of Red Hot Pokers, flowering artichokes, wispy fennel and swaying long grasses. As we chat, a robin – a repeat visitor I’m told – perches on sweet pea supports and listens in.

Towards the end of our tour, the homeowner admits that while he loves having guests, he has been somewhat reluctant to share his home publicly, and that’s understandable. It is a very personal space, a product of a deep knowledge of the land and of experiences gained from many years travelling. And while there are dozens of well-thought-out details and ideas that may provide inspiration for many, this house simply couldn’t exist anywhere else. It is completely of the landscape it rests in, and of the people who created it.

PHOTOGRAPHY Shantanu Starick
PUBLISHED Image Interiors annual 2020