Design guide · Monaghan County Council
Monaghan Design Guide
The council's guidance on siting and designing a house in the countryside.
Monaghan County Council · 2008 · 105 pages
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- 5 WEATHERING AND SHELTER High storms or bad weather can damage buildings. Exposed sites can make it very difficult to provide shelter for a dwelling. Traditional methods of site layout involved making use of natural hollows in the landscape, sheltered areas beside woodland, working with contours (not against them), and generally avoiding exposed locations that suffer the worst effects of the wind and driving rain. (For guidance on landscape character and topography of the County, refer to 2.2) PRIVACY The form and orientation of the dwelling is determined by a variety of things such as the shape and size of the site, contours, the overall appearance of the landscape, access and car circulation. It is possible to capture a view well without the whole house facing towards it, e.g. by placing windows in gable ends or on corners. It is also important to achieve a balance between privacy and glazed frontages to the road.
- 52 3.3 APPRAISING the site CONSIDER: - Size of site needed Is the site sufficient to accommodate the proposed dwelling? Where does the sun rise and set? Sites whose best views arc to the south or south west are best Avoid north facing sloping sites where the south side of the site is a rising hill Are there any planning restrictions that could affect you getting planning permission? Are there any planning restrictions such as Restricted Prospects and Views or Areas of Primary or Secondary Amenity. These could affect you getting planning permission. What sort of existing buildings or other features does the site have? Do these make it more or less attractive e.g. a very mature tree could be an added bonus but not if casts deep shadow on the south side of the site where you want to build. Is it sheltered or exposed? Does it have any restrictive features (e.g. very steep gradients that make car circulation difficult)? Will you be overlooked by neighbours? What is the land drainage like? If you have to install an on site effluent treatment system or a septic tank the soil will need to good percolation to avoid contaminating ground water or nearby streams and rivers. This should be assessed by a suitably qualified professional before you purchase. How do you get access onto the site? It is best if the site has or allows for the creation of a single track hedge lined laneway. Is there enough room to park and turn cars within the site? Is there any mature planting within the site or along its boundaries Are there legal issues, rights of way, leaves or conflict over Title? Can major infilling/excavation be avoided? PRINCIPLES OF SITE LAYOUT KEY CHARACTERISTICS Take advantage of the site’s and the wider landscape’s natural assets as much as possible. If the site is confined the house should be positioned so that it maximises the size of garden spaces to the south and west where pleasant gardens, and sunny external patios or barbeque areas can be created. Opportunities offered by the site and wider landscape to integrate the house should guide or suggest the overall shape and form of the house (ie whether it is best designed as a single storey, two storey, or storey
- 53 and a half house; whether it has a linear configuration or tends towards a deep plan). CONTOURS Work with the natural contours of the site. Avoid large cuts into the hillside to create a level platform. This will result in a scar on the landscape when viewed from afar. No amount of planting can integrate a house and site into the wider landscape in this instance. Building up the natural levels to create a mound or platform is also undesirable. The resulting land formation never appears natural or integrated in the wider landscape. Linear houses have less visual impact on the wider landscape when they are sited with the long axis of the house at right angles to the contours and step down along the contours. This presents a short gable end façade to the wider landscape. By digging the upper end of the house into the hillside the type of unsightly cutting and filling referred to above is greatly reduced. By following the natural contours internal floor levels can step down the site. Having regard to the Building Regulations it can offer the opportunity to vary heights within the house making it more interesting. It also helps the relationship between the form and massing of the house in relation to the landscape around it. Consider breaking down the mass of the house into smaller forms or blocks and design the house so that the ground floor level of these smaller blocks follow the changing levels on the site.
- 54 QUALITY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SPACES If possible arrange entrance laneways and car-parking areas to the north or east sides of the house. Because of shadows cast by the house itself these areas are unlikely to get enough direct sunlight to be warm enough to use as amenity space (gardens, patios, barbecue terraces). Arrange carparking, garages, clothes lines and bins so that good views of the wider landscape from main communal rooms such as kitchen, living or dining areas are not blocked by these. Large areas of tarmac and two or three cars located between you inside and whatever pleasant views you may have will detract from your wonderful view. It is often possible to adapt the size and position of windows to block out a poor view or to ensure privacy inside. MARY KERRIGAN ARCHITECTS
- 55 3.4 DEVELOP a design concept DEVELOP A DESIGN CONCEPT Having established your own needs and appraised the context of the setting and the site, a “design concept” can be developed. The following steps should be taken: Prepare digital land survey showing all topographical features on site Prepare outline proposals - These are fairly diagrammatic drawings that show how the design will meet your brief and how it makes the most of the site’s best potential. These proposals should indicate how any site constraints will be overcome. A “design concept” should be evident in the outline proposal. This is a kernel of an “idea” for the house. It is about much more than deciding on whether it is single storey or two storey or how the rooms fit together. The “idea” or design concept might emerge from something within the site or it may be derived from something beyond the site. There can be many different concepts for a particular brief on any given site. The aim is to arrive at the optimum concept for your site and brief. This is a very creative aspect of the design process and a good concept can contribute enormously to the design quality of the new house. GIVE YOUR AGENT FEEDBACK ON OUTLINE PROPOSALS This response would confirm whether outline proposals are fully meeting the brief or not. It may highlight things that need to be added to the brief. The brief may be generating a building that will exceed the budget and may need to be trimmed back. Prepare sketch design. Agent revises outline proposals to take account of any feedback and develops the design further. Drawings show every aspect of the design - site layout, internal planning, design of all facades, choice of materials and colour. Approve sketch design drawings. Pre-planning negotiations should be initiated.
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- 57 STEPS....... next NEXT STEPS 4.1 Shape 4.2 Size & Scale 4.3 Simplicity 4.4 Height 4.5 Proportion 4.6 Energy/sustainability 4.7 Sloping Sites 4.8 Houses adjacent to other dwellings FRANK O’MAHONY ARCHITECTS
- 58 THE BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE Open countryside without buildings is invariably beautiful to observe. Once dwellings and other buildings are added they change the appearance. When these are well designed they blend in well. Many old buildings in the countryside make a positive contribution to the beauty of the rural landscape. In recent decades the contribution made by many new dwellings and other buildings has detracted from the countryside’s natural beauty. When the aesthetic quality of the Co Monaghan countryside deteriorates it becomes less appealing as a place to visit. Apart from having a negative impact on those locals who live and pass through the countryside regularly this has a negative effect on tourism. Ultimately it is the local community that suffers most. To ensure that the many areas of the county that retain their natural beauty are not damaged by inappropriate house designs it is important to ensure that new houses are well designed so they integrate well and make a positive contribution. How can this be achieved? Over the course of this chapter we will examine some of the key ingredients that can, if handled well, contribute to high quality design. We have established that the following factors are crucial to achieving a well designed house that does not detract from the beauty of the countryside: 1. Siting 2. Shape 3. Size & scale 4. Simplicity 5. Height 6. Proportion 7. Materials and colour 8. Details Additionally, this chapter will examine the issue of energy and sustainability in terms of how this impacts on dwelling design, as well as considering how best to handle sloping sites and the insertion of a new house into an existing group in the countryside.
- 59FRANK O’MAHONY ARCHITECTSHENCHION REUTER ARCHITECTS HENCHION REUTER ARCHITECTS
- 60 SHAPE The traditional shapes or forms that make up the distinctive rural domestic architecture of Co Monaghan are noteworthy for one outstanding quality – their simplicity. While there are many combinations and permutations the sketches opposite illustrate the main basic forms. 1 FARMHOUSE Long double pitched block with narrow gable ends Two Storey SIMPLICITY The simplicity of these traditional house shapes is reinforced by the fact that the majority of roofs were unbroken by features such as dormers and rooflights. Where rooflights did occur they were usually very small, in the plane of the roof and there were usually only one or two of them. There were also very few elements, if any, projecting from the facades, apart from very simple often flat roofed porches. Simple and uninterrupted roofs and facades can help rural houses and groupings of farm outbuildings to blend into the landscape enormously. 4.1 SHAPE 2 SMALL COUNTRY HOUSE Outbuildings associated with the “Cube” house often have hipped roofs Traditionally these houses were a combination of two double pitched roofs with a central valley More often the two double pitched roofs had hips at the rear 3 AGRICULTURAL OUTBUILDINGS Lean-to shed (against wall or gable end) Linear steel framed shed with curved barrel vaulted roof Linear steel framed shed with curved barrel vaulted roof with one or two leantos added SINGLE STOREY STOREY AND A HALF TWO STOREY SINGLE STOREY STOREY AND A HALF OR TWO STOREY USUALLY STOREY AND A HALF OR TWO STOREY SINGLE STOREY SINGLE STOREY
Source Monaghan County Council: Monaghan Design Guide (2008) · 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.