House on the Shore, Cultra 2018-

A project comprised of two brick forms parallel to the coastline of Belfast Lough. One form houses living spaces at first floor availing of the views, the second behind and offset containing bedrooms engaging with a south facing upper garden. Gaps in the forms provide a sheltered first floor entrance courtyard, an excavated rear courtyard, and a western terrace positioned between the forward form and a natural woodland on an adjoining estate.

Geometry is used as an organisational device, employing a simple grid influenced by an Agnes Martin print, in turn adjusted and tuned to the requirements of the building. Walls move through the plan to form internal and external ‘rooms’, which engage with the topography, embedding the house into the found condition of the site.

The reduced expression is intended to imbue the project with the longevity of a monument or ruin, a timeless reading of wall and aperture.

Images 10-13 Nathan Hill