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Imagine a trip to the Hamptons unwittingly diverted into a mid-century California cool home without the egotistical swagger. From the street, there is just a hint of this sleek building that unfolds effortlessly to the sea, tucked into a hillside on the Dublin coast, its soft limewash brick exterior a subtle nod to what lies beyond.
Even when you step inside the porch, you are deliberately drip-fed beautiful hints of what’s to come without revealing too much. It’s not until you walk through the gallery lobby and into the main living space that you meet the panorama of ocean from the glass façade – a clever design element intent on delivering design moments and sea views with every Tardis-like reveal.
“The sequence of space is probably my favourite aspect of the house,” says Mark Arigho who, together with the late John Meagher of de Blacam and Meagher Architects, designed the house before setting up his own firm, ALWA. “John was a great mentor of mine and a master of architecture. He considered everything, right down to the smallest detail. He always said a home should be somewhere that isn’t too regimented, where life takes over, and that’s always stuck with me.”
How this house reveals itself is testament to that. It’s not just one big gallery space and yet the abstraction of plans disappear over time: where you hang your coat, or rest your drink, where you sleep or make your coffee – the fluid flow of life takes over.
There is a formality to the design that harks to Eileen Gray’s E-1027 home in the south of France and Villa Mairea in Finland, designed by Alvar Aalto, both key influences for Mark: L-shaped, flat-roofed with floor-to-ceiling windows, both open and compact. But it’s tempered with an ethos that’s reminiscent of Californian style: luxurious but casual, expansive yet grounded in mid-century modern aesthetics while feeling very Irish, which also comes down to the subtle hand of interior designer Eoin Lyons of LyonsKelly Architecture + Design.
The result is a lighthearted space built of mid-century modern’s classic palette of materials with some softer twists and vintage finds: poplar slatted ceilings, a limewash brick façade, steel, glass, linens, marble, leather – a highly refined temple of contemporary interior delights with the layout firmly focused on the views with curved sofas and swivel chairs angled towards the ocean.
The liberal use of glass throughout the home seamlessly merges the interiors with the property’s seaside surround. That much glass may feel appropriate on the sunny west coast of America but runs the risk of being cold in the less-inviting Irish climate. “When you’ve that many windows, the internal performance of a house is fundamental. We used a high quality German glazing system and a lighter Portuguese system on top of that in the winter garden, which is out front, protecting the house from the sea,” explains Mark. So much natural light means wherever you are in the house, the scene and light is forever changing: turbulent one day, bucolic the next.
Similarly careful consideration was given to the wooden ceiling to minimise the noise level in the home with timber batons placed 8mm apart to absorb sound. “He was always giving out about restaurant design in Dublin being too noisy,” laughs Mark, “and he’s right. Acoustics in design are really important and when you can marry that functionality with beauty, that’s the key.”
The sum of their symmetries and collected design amounts to an air of seaside sophistication, the quietly confident sort that doesn’t seek recognition and doesn’t pander to any real trends, where skilled design and hardworking palettes have produced a loosely-controlled nuance of casual spaces with plenty of mood and atmosphere.
Photography Mark Scott and Doreen Kilfeather
This feature originally appeared in the spring/summer 2023 issue of IMAGE Interiors. Have you thought about becoming a subscriber? Find out more, and sign up here.