Grillagh Water is a contemporary house that is situated on a picturesque site in rural Northern Ireland.
It was designed in 2014 by Patrick Bradley Architects. The architect realized that he needed to reduce the cost to meet his budget, and instead came up with an alternative solution. “I didn’t want to change the idea or the aesthetics of the design but I had to come up with an alternative that was more affordable and that’s where the idea for shipping containers came from,” said Bradley. Two of the metal boxes extend from the entrance at the end of a gravel lane. They both sit on top of the other pair of containers, which nestle in a perpendicular orientation in the lee of a gentle slope. The upper level cantilevers over the lower storey, culminating in a balcony surrounded by steel fins that protect the interior from unwanted solar gain. The grey colour is similar to many of the agricultural buildings around here and the Corten steel cladding was used to blend in with the landscape and the rock that was already on the site.
