It’s still hip to be square in Ireland. For the umpteenth time, block-like facades and rectangular glass-and-timber designs have come out as winners in the Opus Architecture and Construction Awards. But the awards also threw up one or two vaguely “house-shaped” projects. For example, a former bog-standard 1950s family home in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, was highly commended in the under-€750,000 category. Originally a dreary yellow-rendered family home, it was transformed without losing its original “context” in the landscape by McGarry NiEanaigh, an architect.
