James and Mary Connolly lived at their home in Landenstown, Co Kildare, for 29 years until it was submerged by unprecedented flash floods in August 2008.
“We were watching a replay of Dublin in the All-Ireland finals, when Mary remarked that the water level outside “was getting very high”, recalls James.
“Within an hour the water, which had reached a metre high outside came flooding in. We really didn’t know what to do, this was completely out of the blue as the house is not on a flood plain. The only things we could salvage were a suite of furniture and some clothes which were stored at a height.”
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Luckily their two sons Alan and Stephen, and daughter-in-law Gráinne, are all architects who came to the rescue and designed this contemporary house to replace the old bungalow.
“Looking back my attitude was nobody was hurt but we had to make sure this never happened again as we had lost everything. We put the money from the insurance and all our life savings into the budget for the new project,” says James.
Interlinked blocks
The inspiration for the new build was a modern interpretation of a traditional Irish bungalow, which is now elevated 1.5m above the old site – with the exception of one floor which is tanked to seal the exterior.
Acting like an inverted swimming pool, the design and tanking ensures that the property is totally watertight.
The house, which featured on RTÉ's Home of the Year in 2015, comprises three interlinked blocks. From the exterior, the low-cilled windows lead one to believe that the house is on one level. In fact, the accommodation block lies over two floors, and the living and kitchen blocks enjoy double height ceilings, which accommodate a 15ft Christmas tree each year.
One of the most remarkable features of the design is the amount of natural light flowing into all the rooms, through light chimneys, glass ceilings, and colossal windows.
The solid iroko windows – custom made by McNally Joiners are all 2.5m x 1.5m. Opening as doors as well as windows, each aperture frames elements in the gardens. "We were very lucky to have a mature site to work with so we could focus on making it feel part of the new build," says James's son Stephen of Dot Architecture, who led the project.
The streamlined kitchen designed by James’s daughter-in-law Gráinne Daly, features a large moulded Corian island, handless units and Miele appliances. The attention to detail is striking – from the industrial pendant lighting to the downdraft extractor fan which sits flush into the island when not in use.
A mirrored splashback creates an optical illusion reflecting foliage from the garden.
There was no compromise when it came to quality of materials used in the project.
“When I saw the quote for the wooden doors and windows I got a huge shock and asked if we could use PVC instead,” recalls James. His sons won this battle and were given carte blanche on the finish.
Wet rooms
Flooring throughout is a mixture of semi-solid limed oak and poured 150ml Terrazzo on the lower floor. Bathrooms are all designed as wet rooms – requiring no shower trays or doors, and rainwater shower heads lie flush with the ceilings.
In the family bathroom a freestanding limestone bath by Victoria and Albert offers a peaceful setting looking out on a knobbly apple tree.
The property has five bedrooms, three of which lie on the lower ground floor and two on the upper level adjacent to an open plan study.
The living block has two reception rooms which can be closed off from each other through the clever design of what appear to be sliding walls.
Both rooms enjoy double aspect views of the garden and decking which runs along the entire side of the property.
The gardens, set on 0.5 of an acre have old apple and oak trees, mature shrubs and pockets around the house are laid out as patios which catch the sun during different times of the day.
A bank of daisies frames a large glasshouse where four rambling vines produce a harvest of edible grapes each year.
The Connollys are downsizing as "265sq m with five bedrooms is just too much for two people" and have placed their home on the market through agent Bryan Little of Remax Partners with an asking price of €775,000.
The outcome of a disaster resulted in this superb contemporary house, which has been elevated and proofed against any further calamities. The fortune of having three architects in the family “is the greatest return on all those years of college fees” laughs James.
