Hill House, Castlewellan

Completed
2003 (Phase 1) – 2009 (Phase 2)
Budget
£250k
Location
Castlewellan
Client
Private Client
Awards
NI RSPB/RTPI Sustainable Planning Award (2008)

Housing Executive – Home Energy Awards (2009)

Hill House is situated on the edge of the proposed Mourne National Park and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is constructed to minimise its environmental impact, both visually and ecologically.

The house has been used to illustrate good design in the countryside in the DOE’s publication ‘Building on Tradition’ available on the DOE Planning website.

Phase 1 involved the construction of the main family home: conceived as a group of buildings forming a sheltered courtyard. Phase 2 involved the construction of a sunroom to link the main dwelling to the studio.

The design reinterprets the traditional forms found within the Irish countryside and uses traditional materials, yet it is clearly contemporary, with low key modern elements such as the games room and conservatory. The site slopes steeply down from the entrance at the top. The studio and games rooms are cut into the hillside to enclose a gently sloped courtyard that is framed on the south east by the house.

Our client was delighted with the integration of Phase 2 into the original scheme.

Photography by Donal McCann

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