Occupying a steeply sloping site, this house benefits from open, elevated views across an adjacent Golf Course, and the city beyond, to distant hills that surround Belfast. This unusual urban aspect is the driver for the design approach with the main rooms orientated towards this view.

The house is approached from behind a high wall to the street. The main entrance is approached over a wide bridge which, due to the steeply sloping site, provides entry to the middle floor, with views from the entrance hall over a courtyard to the landscape beyond. The house is conceived as three distinct brick mono–pitched forms which collect together in an informal relationship. The connections between these forms are designed as expressed recesses so that each piece is distinct and legible; the detailing is carefully considered to support a strong elemental quality to these forms. Flush glass–to–brick window–details were developed with a specialist contractor who also worked on the MAC where such details were originally used. Two projecting glazed bays in the main living spaces allow a more focussed and deliberate connection between the interior and the elevated views over the mature environment of the golf course.

Photography: Ros Kavanagh