House designed by Wex ford architect makes final of RTÉ’ s Home of the Year
A house designed by architects from Wexford has qualified for the final of RTÉ programme ‘Home of the Year’. The South Dublin bungalow, created by Fergus Flanagan and Anthony Burke, was the last to be selected for this year’s final and progresses to next Tuesday’s (April 9) decider which will be screened on RTÉ One at 8.30pm.
‘We’re delighted, I was speaking to the client yesterday and she was over the moon,’ said Fergus. And although the programme is pre-recorded, Fergus said he’s as much in the dark about the outcome as the rest of us.
‘I don’t know if we won, the clients have to sign a contract stating they won’t reveal the result beforehand,’ he said.
Owned by Rebecca and Ronan Redmond, the property is one Fergus is particularly proud to have worked on. ‘As far as we’re concerned to have any of your clients so delighted with their house that they’ll put it in Home of the Year is brilliant, and then for it to go this far is even better.’
Having initiated the design himself, it was left to Fergus’s associate, Anthony Burke, to execute the construction on site. And the quirky, innovative nature of the building is very much in keeping with their modus operandi. ‘Part of what we do is we design outdoor spaces so we included an outdoor fireplace on it.
‘ Then we put loads of glass in the back so that the minute you walk through the front door you can see the back garden right through the house. There’s lots of unique features in it. You shouldn’t really find a house like that in the middle of suburban Dublin.’
Following on from a highly successful 2018, which saw Fergus Flanagan Architects named Most Innovative Architecture Practise in Ireland and another of their designs named Best Residential Project in Ireland, the Crescent Quay-based practise is now on something of a high.
‘ This is primarily five guys in Wexford who are running this. We’ve been going ten years but we’re finally up there,’ said Fergus.
Hopeful that another feather will be added to his cap next week, Fergus admits that there’s no real way of knowing who will win the final: ‘Anything could win it, sometimes you get a garden shed that wins the thing!’