Infill Housing & Rectory, Purser Gardens, Rathmines, Dublin 6

The client brief was to redevelop their under-utilised site as rectory, parish centre and higher-density rental accommodation. Enabled by a strong Architect and Client relationship, the form has provided positive change to the street, the setting of Holy Trinity Church, and the parish community.

The new rectory is traditional in concept. Public rooms within the house serve both the community and the rector’s family. Overlapping use of space continues outside; providing a flexible resource for residents, emphasised by high-quality landscaping.

The rental accommodation is well laid out. Excellent levels of space and privacy are achieved additional to relative high-occupancy. 

A carefully selected palette of good-quality materials is used, with a level of refinement unusual in rental housing. This is a generous and deceptively simple project; an exemplar for urban housing elsewhere.