Hidden Column and Beam

When I designed the simple garden room extension to this Rathfarnham house I wanted the steel beam set into the floor zone but I chose to introduce a column to control the span of the steel and therefore its depth. I then chose to make a “cut out” feature beside this column to give a neat sculptural effect. The roof light in the picture as also statically positioned close to the old kitchen in order to optimise daylighting and sunshine. A high level window at the side facing south west also has a huge impact on the daylighting in this project. Hats off to builder Tommy Wade of Construction Development who kept us all smiling throughout.

Exempted on 2 counts

      Designing a second extension beside an existing extension can be interesting. In this south Dublin project I wanted to modify the earlier extension but any such modification has to be under clause 4.1.h. of the 2000 Planning Act which defines a certain type of exemption: "development consisting of the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any structure, being works which affect only the interior of the structure or which do not materially affect the external appearance of the structure so as to render the appearance inconsistent with the character of the structure or of neighbouring structures".  This means that if the house had a pitched roof then the extension should too.  The second extension on the left,  which is exempt under the 2001 Planning Regulations, total extended area being under 40 sq.m., took its lead off the first but both were provided with gable walls and the opportunity for high level windows to allow good sun penetration. Each pitch roof also was given a ridge roof light which could be opened to allow...guess what...cooling! . Are we talking about Ireland?