An Awkward Dublin Home Turns a Corner With a Smart Triangular Extension

In the Tenters area of Dublin—a part of town named after its 1600s fabric industry, and where linens were hung to dry from tenterhooks—local firm Robert Bourke Architects was tasked with performing a thoughtful renovation on an oddly shaped lot.

The clients asked the firm to enlarge their home’s kitchen and add a new living and dining space, as well as a utility and storage space. "[They] wanted to keep the original charm of the house but also adapt it to suit their modern lifestyle," says associate architect Anna Pierce. "We kept as many of the original rooms intact and added space only where it was needed."

That was achieved, she says, by creating an extension that made the most of the unused area of the site. Since the original home is positioned on a corner lot at a 45-degree angle, Pierce and the team imagined an addition in the shape of a triangle that runs parallel to the street to meet the home. The tactic served not only to make one large open-plan space that runs from the front to the back of the house, but to also take advantage of easterly and westerly light throughout the day.