Holiday homes are killing the Golden Goose of tourism. Tideaways, based on an analysis of the Rundale system, includes seasonal homes in the sea on a pontoon that are towed into derelict Donegal harbours for winter storage and hillside 'sinkable' houses on a hydraulic system, linked to the pontoon, that rise and fall with the tides. When nobody's at home, the empty sinkable house collapses on its hydraulic ram, disappearing from sight into the ground. Its grass roof becomes part of the landscape you can walk over.

Drawing on the historic Rundale system of land sharing-by which small strips of land were co-operatively managed and periodically redistributed, ensuring environmental egalitarianism-Tideaways proposes a transformation of affluent leisure, its social experience, and its environmental impact. Instead of further expansion, development is condensed at strategic locations along the coastline. Settlement extends onto the coastal shelf to include floating, seasonally-removable elements. Living spaces move with the ebb and flow of the tide, sometimes exposed and sometimes concealed. The restorative qualities of the natural elements, and their interactions with social arrangements, are greatly amplified in this responsive kinetic landscape.

MacGabhann Architects
Irish Architecture Foundation