Putting the bliss back into bungalow living
Ireland is dotted with blistered bungalows, the tired legacies of the Bungalow Bliss era, and yet one revamped home in Co Kerry shows how such houses can be cosied up, opened out and aesthetically enhanced to take their place among the best architecture of today. The owners of this bungalow overlooking Kenmare Bay originally thought that they needed an extension, because they lacked space and the interior of their home was dark.
But Carson and Crushell Architects talked them out of it, something they have tended to do of late.
In a current job in Rathgar, Douglas Carson and Rosaleen Crushell showed the client how they could reconfigure their existing space and add a smaller extension to meet their needs. While in Kerry, they explained how the clients’ lifestyle would be better served with more openings in the exterior and a spatial configuration internally.
“We do seem to convince ourselves out of work,” Douglas smiles.
“But the extension would have been compromised by the budget and you can do a lot with small gestures. Sometimes an extension can exacerbate space problems. You can have an extension of 40sq m (431sq ft) without planning permission which can take up a huge amount of garden and you will get little or no direct sun into the centre of a house, even with a conservatory.”
