Ryan W. Kennihan Architects

Vita House

Vita House
© Alice Clancy

VITA HOUSE

Ryan W. Kennihan Architects

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Ryan Kennihan, Ronan Costelloe

EXTENSION AREA
226 m2

EXISTING AREA
112 m2

PROJECT YEAR
2013

PHOTOGRAPHS
Alice Clancy

CATEGORY
Renovation

LOCATION
Abbey St, Ballypheasan, Roscommon, Ireland

Vita House
© Alice Clancy

The building is an extension and renovation of a detached townhouse on Abbey Street in Roscommon town.

It provides counseling rooms and a large meeting hall for the holistic counseling center called Vita House and the broader community.

Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy

The site is highly sensitive as it overlooks the town’s primary church, the Sacred Heart Cathedral, while the existing building is part of an architectural conservation area.

The design arises from the client’s desire to create a peaceful welcoming place which can be a central part of community life.

Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy

The design, therefore, seeks to be a ‘good neighbor’, inspired in part by the simple pitched roofs and rectangular windows on the road as well as by 18th-century buildings like the City Assembly House in Dublin which contain a variety of unexpected spaces behind modest exteriors.

The reserved exterior allows the church to continue to dominate the surroundings and relies on subtle tectonic details and asymmetries for richness.

The simple volume belies the various rooms within including a large meeting space whose domed ceiling and serene atmosphere allude to the religious associations of the client organization and the neighboring parish church.

Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy


Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy
Vita House
© Alice Clancy


Vita House
Site Plan
Vita House
Dome Church Section
Vita House
Ground Floor Plan
Vita House
First Floor Plan


Vita House
Elevation

Ryan W. Kennihan Architects
T +353 1 8881916
Ryan W. Kennihan Architects
30 Mountjoy Square E, Mountjoy, Dublin, D01 Y6R9, Ireland