An Leabharlann
Caherbullig, Co. Kerry
Planning Granted 2025
In Construction
Caherbullig, Co. Kerry
Planning Granted 2025
In Construction
Drawing formal and material inspiration from the single-barrel-vaulted hay barns once commonplace in Kerry’s rural landscape, a new vaulted library is woven into the evolving fabric of a clachan on the slopes of Sliabh an Iolair, overlooking Ceann Trá.
These modest agricultural structures typically roofed in corrugated steel and sited beside farmhouses were once integral to everyday rural life. Though now largely absent from the land, their typology persists in the collective memory of the countryside. This side extension reinterprets the elemental form, reasserting its presence through a contemporary architectural language on a site where hay was once gathered into a coca féir.
A new sequence of naturally lit enfilades establishes layered sightlines from the house, through the library, and outward to the surrounding fields, linking Sliabh an Iolair, to the west with the Iveragh Peninsula to the east. The barrel-vaulted ceiling draws the eye upward, imbuing the interior with a calm, reverential atmosphere.
The material palette is deliberately restrained and tactile. Bespoke book shelves and plan chests, crafted from fallen oak, line the interior. A generous window seat, oriented toward sun, land, and sea, anchors the space as a place of introspection: a quiet observatory for the shifting rhythms of light and landscape.
Art Barn
Inch, Co. Kerry
2026
In Planning
Inch, Co. Kerry
2026
In Planning
A new artist’s studio provides a dedicated space for the practice of visual artist Laura Fitzgerald, whose work draws deeply upon the agricultural traditions, material culture and everyday life of the surrounding countryside.
Conceived as a modest, freestanding workshop, the building accommodates the fabrication, assembly and storage of large-scale sculptural works. A generous, high-ceilinged interior provides the spatial freedom necessary for an evolving artistic practice, allowing works to be conceived and realised at a scale otherwise difficult to accommodate within a domestic setting.
The studio is positioned discreetly amongst established trees and mature vegetation, drawing upon the quiet, utilitarian character of agricultural buildings found throughout the Kerry landscape. Its simple form and restrained palette of durable materials respond to the demands of the local climate, while allowing the building to recede into its rural surroundings.
More than a place of production, the studio establishes a permanent setting for an artistic practice rooted in the landscape from which it draws inspiration, supporting the continued making of contemporary art within the rural community of West Kerry.
