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Richmond Place. Boyd Cody Architects. Dublin, Ireland. 2005.

This brick residence in Dublin is a 2-bedroom and 2-bathroom in the style I like to call Mortem Bauhaus. While the house is remarkable inside and out from a design standpoint, it is just that: a house and not a home. The interior is very hard and cold in pure, pared down colours with the clean, hard lines Bauhausians adore. In addition to feeling frigid, the interior is very unwelcoming -- the antithesis of what we associate with charming Irish culture -- with isolated and sectioned off spaces, which render it more mausoleum than residence.

Richmond Place seems to be a rebellion against the prejudicial, ingrained images the world has of Ireland. A contemporary stand of new against old. A challenge to the prevalent traditional style that has become so ingrained and thoughtless that creativity and innovation have been lost. With a deliberate hard shell to protect itself from the frightening softness and overwhelming emotion of conventional Irish culture. This is readily apparent in the way the sharp corner of the house juts out aggressively into the street. The design is different, yes, but to such an extreme that the house becomes an inhospitable place.

Richmond Place does not invite you in with warmth, a hearth and detailed finishes. The upper left photo shows us the living room and its modest fireplace that is cut into the lower corner of a wall; it is an accessory to the space and not, as is frequently seen, the focal point of the living space. To the upper left of the fireplace is a narrow window that leads to the kitchen. The kitchen, which again is normally another focal point of a home, is removed from the living space. Well, why not. Rigor mortis does not require a full and satiated belly. Even the upper level of the house shows us a ceiling support system that is eerily similar to the hollow rib cage of a whale carcass left to decay on a beach. This design may appeal to some, perhaps those who themselves are cold and hardened. Or perhaps those who desire to bring warmth and touch that will help turn this house into a home.