O'Leary Sludds Architects - Tullow Passive House, Carlow

Tullow Passive House, Carlow

We met Tony & Siobhan in 2009 and together set about designing a modern interpretation of the traditional Irish vernacular farmstead on their family farm land. The Passivhaus Standard was a target, but designing a home that, not only fitted well into the Irish landscape, but also fitted with their growing family and changing lifestyle was their priority. 

We enjoyed guiding Tony & Siobhan through all the various stages of building their dream home and worked with them closely to maintain their budget while ensuring a very high quality construction standard.

Single storey passive house with south facing zinc brise soleil over outdoor terrace.
Underside of standing seam zinc canopy supported by powder coated columns with views towards the countryside.
Bespoke kitchen island unit in passive house with view of countryside framed by the triple glazed aluclad window.

The design won the Irish category of the Saint-Gobain Gypsum National Trophy 2012 award, for its excellent design and performance and was one of only 3 Irish projects to represent Ireland in the International Section of the Awards in London the same year. 

The house was featured on RTE’s About the House with Duncan Stewart, in both Construct Ireland and Passive House Plus magazines, and was presented at the SEAI Energy Show. 

Single storey passive house with a mixture of pitched slate and flat zinc roofs supported off powder coated colanade.
Bespoke kitchen with grey wall and white island units and polished concrete floor.
Window view of underside of zinc canopy, outdoor terrace and bales of hay in the distant field.
Circulation route in passive house framed by grey free standing bespoke kitchen and triple glazed alucald horizontal window.
Duck ornament standing in opening in grey wall with view of cooker in the distance.

The build method for this 295m2 house was 300mm wide infill cavity walls, raft foundation floor on 400mm wrap insulation, timber A-frame pitched roof, zinc flat roof and triple glazed passivhaus certified windows; with U-values as low as 0.08 W/m2K.

The airtight level achieved was unprecedented at the time of construction with as low as 0.30 h-1 air changes at +/- 50 pascal. 

Using a Heat Recovery Ventilation System (HRVS) as its main heating source, the house had a back-up geothermal heat pump with a borehole. 

The house has some wonderful views of the countryside, mountains and the garden in all seasons; as the duck would tell you if it could talk!

Entrance to passive house from courtyard with standing seam zinc flat roof between two slate pitched roofs and yellow toy in the foreground.
Zinc brise soleil supported off zinc column with painted rendered gable and landscaping.

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