Outbuilding at Seaview Cottage, Co. Wexford
Seaview Cottage (extant 1840) is a detached, single-storey over basement marine villa, on a U-shaped plan overlooking the beach at Ballinesker, Co. Wexford. It represents an integral component of the domestic built heritage of County Wexford, and is referenced by Thomas Lacy in 1863 as one of ‘several handsome lodges and neat cottages (that) have been erected, which are occupied during the season by respectable families'.
(Ref: Thomas Lacy 1863, Sights and Scenes from our Fatherland, p501).
Client: Private
Sector: Domestic
Location: Ballinesker, Co. Wexford
Status: Completed 2020
Size: 125m²
The design intention was to restore and remodel the outbuilding to create a series of flexible and adaptive social spaces that would complement the more formal cellular rooms within the villa. Openings were made within the original structure to frame specific views of the surrounding landscape and skyscape. Three interconnected spaces of a bar area (with a restored French antique zinc bar), a lounge area, and a pool room, were created within the outbuilding along with a WC and Utility Room.
A place for family
The Clients’ brief was to refurbish the original, dis-used outbuilding to the rear of the cottage and create a landscape strategy for the adjacent courtyard space to increase useability. Their desire was to create a ‘place of retreat’ within the coastal landscape, a place of belonging where generations of their family and friends could gather in company or quiet.
Described by the National Built Heritage Service, the ‘outbuilding continues to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a neat self-contained ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene’.
The external courtyard space was reimagined as an adaptive landscaped outdoor space that would mediate between the formal villa and the outbuilding. Paved in local limestone, the slabs were shaped to respond to the different axes of the villa and the barn, allowing the courtyard to unify and mediate between the two buildings. The pattern and layout of stone slabs respond to the movement routes and soft landscape features within the courtyard.
The use of local materials and skills were used to realise the restoration of the outbuilding, grounding the project within the coastal community.
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