A 1980s house is simply remodelled; the removal of the pattern-book tropes – blind corridor, meagre windows, flat ceilings, lack of light – frees it up to be inhabited more intuitively while also providing more space for the extending family.

A simple language of white walls, hardwood floors and aluminium windows is employed. At the heart of the house, the kitchen is opened up with a pitched roof and three west-facing rooflights, giving it a vertical orientation and asserting its importance: a miniature house within a house. It is connected horizontally to the Living and Dining spaces either side, leading out to garden and patio respectively. This central open-plan space is flooded with light and invariably full of life. Bedrooms are arranged at either end, recalling a more primitive Irish rural house type.

In the extended parts, the expression of ash roof joists, lit from above by large rooflights, gives them a distinctive material and spatial atmosphere. Externally, all features are suppressed, windows are set deep, and smooth white render gives the house an uncanny, monolithic character.