Woodside House

Location: Kilkenny, Ireland

Area: 179 sq.m.

Year: 2025

Woodside House is located in the Kilkenny countryside, overlooking a beautiful rural landscape of fields, woodland, and distant mountains. The existing 1980s dwelling was heavy in form and poorly connected to its setting, missing the opportunity to engage with the site’s natural topography and southern orientation.

The project involves a deep reconfiguration and extension of the existing house, transforming it into a contemporary, energy-efficient home that is both responsive and respectful to its rural context. The original structure was stripped back to its essential framework, reinstating orthogonal alignments to bring order and clarity. A central, anchored volume now defines the composition, providing hierarchy and coherence. Two new timber-clad volumes extend from this core, their proportions carefully balanced to reduce the visual mass of the original building while establishing a rhythm that relates naturally to the surrounding trees.

The material palette draws inspiration from the nearby woodland and traditional rural textures to achieve harmony with the landscape. Large openings frame views and maximise daylight, while overhangs and orientation help to balance solar gain and shading throughout the seasons.

A fabric-first approach was adopted to improve insulation, airtightness, and glazing performance. Where possible, existing structural elements and masonry have been retained or reused on site, reducing embodied carbon and construction waste.

The project enhances both the existing dwelling and its setting, strengthening the relationship between house and landscape while contributing positively to the architectural character of rural Kilkenny.