An Leabharlann
Caherbullig, Co. Kerry
Planning Granted 2024
In Construction
Caherbullig, Co. Kerry
Planning Granted 2024
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.
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.
