The site is located on a greenfield site in Bohola, County Mayo and is the family home of the applicant.

John O’Hora is an Irish artist who has lived and practised his artwork through teaching in London universities in recent years and now plans to return to Bohola. His inspiration/brief for the building stems from the H block prison in Belfast – notorious in the 1970s to 2000s, that was used to house paramilitaries during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Our client’s desire is to create a single-story building using a lot of glass to allow natural light in.

The building is to be situated within the existing rural landscape sitting seamlessly with the existing row of trees and a stream. Due to the stream and varying levels, the ground floor will be on stilts, elevating the internal floors from the external ground.

The bungalow is split into two zones resembling an ‘H’ form layout with a connecting bridge in the middle. The North Block includes housing the sleeping areas, bedrooms, bathroom and laundry areas. The building is also entered at this front block. The entrance directs you over the views of the stream, and towards the rear, South Block. This block holds the living areas, living room, kitchen and dining areas. The blocks are partitioned, not by walls but by furniture to allow for new layouts and aspects that revive link between dwelling space and landscape.

The idea of building on stilts is to avoid the requirement of losing the trees nearby, the piles will ensure that the roots of trees are not disturbed. It is our client’s wish that the building will be set in a way that minimises the disturbance of the existing landscape.