Slender granite columns frame the glazed walls of this compact extension to a home in Dublin, completed by local studio Scullion Architects.
Named Park Pavilion, the extension expands a semi-detached dwelling with a home office space, which was elevated above ground level to benefit from views across the nearby Phoenix Park.
Scullion Architects used a pared-back palette of granite for the extension’s exterior and warm cherrywood for its interior to create what the studio described as “a sense of permanence and presence”.
Scullion Architects has completed a compact home extension in Dublin
“The project responds directly to its site by elevating the pavilion above the sloping garden, minimising ground disturbance while maximising views, daylight, and immersion in the landscape,” studio founder Declan Scullion told Dezeen.
“The new room frames views through a granite loggia and takes advantage of the dramatic relationship to the surrounding parkland and treetops through generous glazing,” he continued.
“Despite its small footprint, the pavilion achieves a strong sense of permanence and presence through careful proportion, materiality, and the choreography of movement and views.”
Its glazed front is framed by slender granite columns
Bookending the existing terrace, Park Pavilion’s granite exterior was chosen to reference the use of granite to frame openings in the main home, to which it is connected via a short, first-floor glazed link.
Its compact form contains a single workspace above, where a desk and lounge space is wrapped by built-in storage. Below, the space created by elevating the extension has been used to create a storage area that is wrapped by black metal railings.
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According to Scullion, it was the “atmospheric elegance” of American practice SOM‘s 1960s office interiors that served as a touchpoint for Park Pavilion’s study, which features terrazzo floors, cherrywood carpentry and “restrained” furniture.
By contrast, the exterior was informed by architect Sir John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor, with walls of glass at its northern and southern ends framing views out over the surrounding trees and incorporating large sliding doors.
The workspace contains a desk and lounge space
White curtains allow light and views through these windows to be mediated, helping to create a softer quality of light that Scullion says is “suited to focused work and contemplation.”
“The design process was driven as much by atmosphere and psychological well-being as by function,” he told Dezeen.
“The project combines architectural restraint with a more romantic sensitivity to light, materials, and landscape.”
Cherrywood carpentry is paired with terrazzo floors
Scullion founded his eponymous studio in Dublin in 2016. Previous projects by the studio include another extension to a home in Dublin that added a glazed “long gallery” framed in dark green metal and a home with a garden “sanctuary”.
The photography is by Peter Molly.