Design firm: Canice Architects
Project Name: Mosse Woodland Studio
Location: County Kilkenny, Ireland
Size: 86 square meters
Amid the ruins of a historic estate of outstanding landscape beauty near Thomastown, in County Kilkenny, Canice Architects has created a small studio for an artist that reinterprets vernacular tradition through a contemporary design language, establishing an intimate relationship between architecture and landscape. The building stands on the footprint of a pre-existing stone structure and is situated in a clearing carved out of a centuries-old forest. Externally, its sharp geometry and corrugated metal pitched roof evoke the unadorned and strict appearance of local barns. Inside, the flow of space expands outward in search of a continuous dialogue with the context, blurring the boundary between the building and the landscape: to the south, through a large glass wall that opens onto a covered terrace; to the east, through a partially covered courtyard, designed to host sculptures and provide spaces for rest and gathering, and enlivened by reflective surfaces that multiply the visual impressions through a play of reflections.