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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- 89 Simple Attractive Front Door Types to Avoid Unsightly Option 1 Option2 vertical sheeted (favourable option) assymetrical mock Tudor mock neo-Georgiancluttered white PVC Mock Georgian Horizontal ribbed (unfavourable options) unsightly white PVC solid with small light partial glazed vertical panelled partial glazed contemporary partial glazed and panelled solid panelled Preferred Doors bulkhead fitting prominent ESB box Doors - ESB Boxes & Lighting recessed light recessed box meter box behind simple tidy light Garage Doors varnished `Wendy’ style
- 90 porches and canopies A key characteristic of Cork rural houses is that there is little or no modelling of the front plane of the building. Porches expressed on the outside of houses, or addon canopies were much rarer than today. Occasionally small porches or canopies were found over older cottage doors, particularly on single storey houses. These add interest to the building, however it was rare to find porches on 2-storey houses as the cost combined with the very low sill level of the first floor windows of the typical 3-bay rural farmhouse made their inclusion very difficult. Today, the need to compensate for the difficult proportioning arising from regulation heights, together with the increased size of our homes gives rise to virtually every new house having an expressed porch or canopy to the front of the house, which is generating very busy lines in our countryside. Furthermore, good sustainable energy efficient design practice demands the inclusion of buffer zones in our houses between the inside and outside to reduce heat losses as people enter and leave. Many older houses have such buffer zones internalised within the house, leaving the outside unadorned; a practice we should emulate today. In summary we need to ask the question do porches need to be placed at the front of the house? Cork County Council would encourage the placement of porches to the side, rear, or better still internalised within the volume of the house. Where porches are incorporated, the following points should be considered: • Porches should be carefully detailed and built with good quality materials - avoid white plastic where possible; • The size and shape of the porch should be well proportioned. Small roofs do not need rainwater goods; • Introducing a different material for this element only, such as brick or stone, should not be necessary on simple houses; • The use of `mock’ or `false’ classical type porches are best avoided. 149 150148 151 152
- 91 Simple shelter to front door Contemporary alternativePreferred option Simple porch form + detail Simple Canopy Traditional Canopy Contemporary TypeSimple Surround Porch internalised within house Porches to avoid Suburban Recessed Porch Undermines Symmetry ‘Applied’ False Classical Wrong Materials Poor Details Suburban Suburban Suburban Suburban ‘Stuck On’ Frills Porch to compensate for poor proportions
- 92 conservatories/sunspaces Conservatories or sunspaces can be very attractive features of new houses or, more commonly, subsequent additions to older houses. They can act as very useful visual `release-points’ in more solid houses. Many new eco-houses are designed with the sunspace as the central organising element (in terms of orientation, plan arrangement and section) to maximise passive solar heating gains and bring down energy costs to a fraction of that of normal houses. These eco-houses require very careful siting. Reconciling technical and aesthetic requirements can be quite difficult and demands great skill. The shape of the sunspace should be consistent with the house to which it is attached. • The size and location of an ancillary type sunspace requires careful consideration with respect to proportion, size and the spatial layout of the house Sunspaces immediately beside kitchens will be most extensively used; • Avoid conservatories/sunspaces, which are ‘out of scale’ with the rest of the house; • The construction materials of the sunspace are fundamental to its successful appearance. ‘Flat’ white PVC profiles are generally the least successful due to their bulky sections and garishness of their particular white colour. Many firms offer low maintenance roofing framework in attractively profiled sections, along with timber framework to the sidewalls; • Revised building regulations seek to minimise heat losses from these elements of houses. This impacts on the design of all new sunspaces in terms of extent of glazing and framework, with doors to seal off from the rest of the house. This aspect of sunspace design will require much more careful consideration in the future; • First floor conservatories are particularly difficult, both in terms of their visual appearance/obtrusiveness and possible privacy issues. Generally they should be avoided. If they are used, a much more skilled approach is required; • It is preferable that glare and over-heating concerns are dealt with either by reducing the extent of glazing, or the use of blinds, rather then using heavily tinted glass; • Ventilation is fundamental to successful sunspace design in terms of comfort. The location and disposition of opening windows/vents impacts significantly on the overall appearance and needs to be considered from the outset. 153 156154 155
- 93 Preferred Shapes and Locations simple lean-to `A’ pitch to gable `A’ pitch to rear. Careful proportioning if to front lean-to to rear careful material selection if to front simple hip shape can look well hipped on front of house hipped on gable of house too large and complex conservatory with house attached Types to avoid ‘resolved hipped form’ unbalanced Hipped houses are more difficult lean - to looks best projecting sunroom less satisfactory simple hipped lean-to Rural Solution fussy sunroom projection Suburban Approach controllable blinds controlable ventillation opening Winter Day Maximise on passive solar gains Large Glazed Lean-to Minimise visibility to public roads unless very well proportioned & executed Dark metal or stained painted timber finish extra accommodation possible glazed end option integrated lean-to projecting gable bay proportions & materials very important Numerous alternatives possible smaller openings integrated sunspace aspect facing south Small house - sunroom & conservatory studies aspect facing north conservatory side extension
- 94 external finishes ... regional characteristics Not only does the particular shape of a building give a region its identity, but also the finishes applied, or as importantly not applied, to the outside of a building show distinct regional variations. For example, as one travels across Cork, the coastal fishing villages of the west are very distinctive with their brightly coloured painted houses. Kinsale, on the other hand, is particularly noted for its slate hanging to external walls. This was a practical measure arising as a means to prevent the continuous driving rain penetrating internally. Interestingly this is also a feature of coastal villages of the southwest of England with which Kinsale historically has strong links. Further east and north, thatch as a roofing material is far more commonplace. East Cork is notably high in limestone, which gives a very different appearance to the stone walls of the countryside in the east, being built of stones that are roundish and light grey in colour. Perhaps for this and associated reasons, colours, as one heads north and east across the county, become more muted - typically limewash greys, off whites and soft yellow ochres. Brickworks were located around Youghal and elsewhere in the east of the county, where clay, suitable for making brick, was found and consequently brick housesare more common. Elsewhere in Cork brick was often used for practical reasons to construct parts of the walls, forming corners and arches, such as around door and window openings, external corners and chimney stacks. More often these elements were then plastered over to give the building a uniform appearance and resist water penetration. The recent trend of hacking off the render finish to the outside of buildings has exposed these brick elements. This is regrettable as many building interiors are now at risk from water penetration, while also the uniformity and clarity of our vernacular is becoming confused. New houses are being built to replicate the stripped houses, which were never meant to be seen, producing houses with stone cladding or non-functional brick applied around corners, to chimneys and so on. Similarly brick and stone or concrete should not be mixed randomly ‘for effect’ or as ‘features’. Upgrading of the traditional style to suit our modern lifestyle can lead to proliferation of pipe work and cabling associated with modern appliances, which can disrupt architectural features or elevations. Locate pipework internally wherever possible and consider painting pipes to blend with the roofs or walls of principal elevations so as to minimise their visual impact. 157 158 159 160
- 95 Mock Tudor Types Brick Houses White Plastic Windows Garish Colour Marble Chip Dash Add- on frills & bands Bright ‘loud’colour White plastic box eaves Brick window surrounds Tidy eaves treatment Quality windows with depth of profile ‘Natural’ soft colour Finishes to avoid The “maintenance free”? The over dressed The Suburban Cork rural house Expensive add-ons & frills used to compensate for poor design Contemporary rural house continues tradition of simplicity Isolating concrete perimeter path Modular artifical looking stone cladding Black tarmacadam Unattractive details & materials ‘Fussy’ metalwork Ornate Fascias Ornate pots Ridge cresting Large format tiles Brick features Pre-cast walling Skylight in lieu of dormer Natural Slate Local stone wall Timber windowsPlanting contact with houseLocal pebble surfacing
- 96 stone It is important to be aware that while traditional Cork rural houses were, more often than not, built with stone or clay walls, they almost always had painted plaster finish – a characteristic which should be retained and continued by and large. The render finish applied to the walls was necessary to act as an `overcoat’ to the houses, keeping the water out, given the severe driving rain across the County. Rough cast renders were the traditional external coatings applied to rubble-walled buildings. Materials such as marble chip finish and some pebble dashes, which are intended to be maintenance free, not only frequently appear at odds with the locality but also deteriorate and grow unsightly over time, and should generally be avoided. Stone finished buildings do exist, but these tended to be either ‘grand’ cut stone structures such as churches, banks, and courthouses, or utilitarian structures such as outbuildings, barns, mills and so on. This created an attractive clarity in the hierarchy of rural buildings types while at the same time forming a uniformity to the appearance of our houses in the region. Notwithstanding the above, stone used with consideration and skill can be very attractive, and such use is to be encouraged as follows: • Stone cladding to ancillary ‘wings’ or other elements such as garden or boundary walls can provide attractive contrast and help reduce the apparent size of buildings; • Certain landscapes or sensitive locations can benefit substantially where stone is used extensively on the outside of a house to marry it harmoniously with the site; • Stone can also be used very successfully in more skilful contemporary houses, providing an interesting play of heavy and light materials; • An important but general rule where stone is to be employed is that, where possible, it should be of the locality so that there is a consistency in colour that links successfully with other stone structures, ditches, rock outcrops, etc. in the immediate vicinity. For example, a light grey limestone boundary wall typical to East Cork would look very incongruous among the blue slate/shale of Baltimore and vice versa; • Avoid 2-dimensional type effects with stone, which give it a very false ‘applied’ appearance. Traditional Cork rural buildings have an honesty and simplicity values which are worth retaining and emulating in new rural buildings. 161
- 97 stone finishes Inappropriate use of stone Attractive use of stone 2-D Gable treatments Feature “add-ons” ‘Odd’ use of stone Stone “bits” for effect Pipes disappearing into stone Piers in stone wall Preferred use of stone Cork rural houses are traditionally plastered finish sometimes with ancillary stone ‘wings’ 2-D Facing panels Arbitrary veneer effects 3-D stone elements Stone used is native to the locality Stone used to give emphasis to main structure Stone used to provide contrast and reduce apparent size Stone walls for shelter links buildings with the land on Cape Clear Stone plinth links house with site Stone walls provide effective shelter & contrast Building with the landscape Building as part of the landscape Building as part of the landscape Attractive use and contrast of ‘solid’ & ‘light’ natural materials
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