Design guide · Cork County Council
Cork Rural Design Guide
The council's guidance on siting and designing a house in the countryside.
Cork County Council · 128 pages
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- 19 seek shelter & integration..use natural elements to your advantage • Huddle of buildings in lee of knoll • House sited in a hollow using the hillside for shelter • Where possible use the natural backdrop of trees/ shelter belt. Note: deciduous planting to the south will give summer shade and winter light • Inland sites using tree cover • Coastal-clustering clachan• House built in a ‘tuck’ on a headland 29 3128 30
- 20 assessing a site’s potential...a possible good site and three responses The site is sloping southwards, has trees as a backdrop, shelter from the hillside, hedgerows to the front and easy access to services at the roadside. This exercise aims to illustrate how an applicant buying a site, or a farmer selling a site, might consider some typical responses which often create planning difficulties. By looking at the same piece of land with a slight change in approach in site layout and house design we can achieve a much more satisfactory result. A typical response of the 70s & 80s to avoid • House positioned on the most elevated and exposed part of the site • Pattern book bungalow isolated from the landscape by concrete path and manicured garden • Suburban treatment of house and garden with no use of ‘natural’ landscaping • Hedgerows removed and replaced with Leylandii hedging • Lack of enclosure • Absence of privacy • Cars to the front Leylandii hedge Sea of Lawn House placed on highest point creating platform effect Perimeter concrete path isolates house from garden Tarmacadam & cars to front Corner of a Farm Holding The `Drop-in’ Bungalow
- 21 Exposed/elevated ground avoided Massing of house broken down Existing backdrop of trees utilised New hedgerow No large area of lawn evident Rural Cork 2000s Rural type house & site layout, links it with countryside & neighbours • Most sheltered part of the site selected • House orientated to maximise daylight and solar gain • House set down into landscape and well linked to it • Set back from the road and retaining the frontage hedgerows • The massing of the house is broken down and follows the contour of the hills without the need for a platform • Garden areas are secluded and private • Modern comfortable home that blends with its setting Green baize lawn Cars, path, tarmacadam to front Planting forgotten 2D Stone facing to compensate for height/impact White PVC Fascia & Soffit New post & rail fencing The 90s Approach Big house too close to road, full impact presentation • House positioned to be seen. Large in scale, dominant within the local landscape • No shelter or link with the landscape - exposed and buffered by the weather, no enclosure or privacy to the garden areas • Sea of green lawn and tarmac, cars to the front • Poor use of materials and detailing, lots of plastic and imitation stone facings • A platform has to be cut and/or built up because the footprint of the house does not relate to the contours of the land. The Preferred Response The All-Show Clunky House
- 22 linking with the land A good site, from a planning viewpoint, might be defined as one which easily allows a new house to settle into and integrate with its surroundings. Too many new houses appear as if they’ve been lifted from a town suburb and simply placed on top of a rocky hillside. The secret is to work with the landscape and not against it. Keep as many hedgerows, trees, and stone walls as you can. Place the driveway to the side or rear. Keep expansive green lawns under control and plant the garden close to the house. • Leave existing roadside hedgerows and ditches intact as much as possible; • Avoid car parking to the ‘front’ of the house, i.e. between the house and the road. This will often mean making entrance courtyards or locating the ‘front door’ to the side or rear of the house, as seen from the road; • Use contours of original site to soften the setting of the house; • Try to retain at least two, preferably three, existing boundaries (either natural hedgerows or stone walls) to soften visual impact of the house; • Pull paths a couple of feet away from the house to allow zone for planting contact with the house; • Allow the garden to run up to/meet with the house in places, greatly enhancing its connection with the site. Avoid encircling house fully with paths; • Use hedges, walls and planting close to the house to reduce its impact and assist in connecting it with its site; • Plant and/or contour the site where necessary to maximise sheltering the house; • Reduce/minimise the hard landscape zone about the house, isolating it from the garden which reinforces a ‘platform’ effect; • Avoid isolating a house on a platform on the site surrounded by a sea of mown lawn; • Use materials of the locality, e.g. stone and pea gravel from nearby quarries, etc. Avoid black tarmacadam driveways, brick ‘features’ which are out of context, or manufactured looking materials, such as some pre-cast concrete products; • Avoid asphalt finishes and decorative lamps illuminating driveways as these are not suited to rural locations. 33 34 3532
- 23 House isolated, cars to front, sea of lawn House + site linked to countryside Rural road and wall, no concrete path, house anchored Attractive roadside wall, contouring, natural enclosure Alien ‘Helicopter Drop-in’ effect to house + site House isolated, urban boundaries, no buffering House isolated from site, site isolated from the landscape
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- 25 site selection summary & checklist have you? Described the important characteristics of the site? Found a site in the optimum location in terms of visual impact - i.e avoided a prominent position? Found a site that provides shelter from prevailing winds and landscaping - i.e. avoided the ridge line and found a site with a natural back drop? Found a site with the appropriate aspect to maximise the sunlight? Found a site where at least two but preferably three existing natural boundaries can be retained (e.g. existing hedgerows, walls or woodland)? Found a site that allows safe access without removal of roadside boundaries? Created privacy for the proposed dwelling? Assessed alternative sites for their suitability?
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- 27 20 things every house should consider Orientation and mapping the sunpath Study the options Dealing with contours Garden design Creating new boundaries New planting Making an entrance Summary & Checklist well considered part two site layout
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Source Cork County Council: Cork Rural Design Guide · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.