Architects: Alice Casey PhD MRIAI ARB(UK) and Cian Deegan PhD MRIAI

Firm: TAKA architects Dublin

Type: Refurbishment and Extension, Monkstown, Dublin

Area: 60m2 Refurbishment 22m2 Extension

Status: Completed 2018

Once a Council House this 1940s South Dublin home, situated in the coastal village of Monkstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown county, Ireland. An inspired remodel for a family inclined to living up to the structure’s storied past — rebel songs rumoured to have been played into the wee hours there in the 1970s by Luke Kelly of The Dubliners, one time owner Andrew Massey said to have been attacked by a circus lion that accidentally let loose by its trainer in 1951 — the extension into a garden of almost thirty palm varietals centered around an aquarium for an enormous snapping turtle known as Mr Swampy, a thirteen year old at project completion. Marc and Suzie Flood began the process of remodeling after they were married in 2014, an initial set of plans was submitted in 2016 just after their son Conor Maverick was born, but had to be scrapped due to objections by the building council over a sewerage pipe running under the property, but TAKA redesigned, keeping the essential vision intact. Suzie, an avid cook after her father a chef, worked closely with Cian Deegan of TAKA to realize her well conceived kitchen; and she and Marc each took responsibility for a bathroom, Suzie’s finished fifties style for her beloved nanny, and featuring a little LABETTE bath. She documents the project on her blog THE HOUSE BEYOND THE PALMS.