The building is an extension and renovation of a detached townhouse on Abbey Street in Roscommon town. It provides counseling rooms and a large meeting hall for the holistic counseling center called Vita House and the broader community.

© Alice Clancy

Architects: Ryan W. Kennihan Architects

Location: Abbey St, Ballypheasan, Roscommon, Ireland

Lead Architects: Ryan Kennihan, Ronan Costelloe

Project Year: 2013

Photographs: Alice Clancy

Existing Area: 112 m2

Extension Area: 226 m2

© Alice Clancy

Text description provided by the architects. The building is an extension and renovation of a detached townhouse on Abbey Street in Roscommon town. It provides counseling rooms and a large meeting hall for the holistic counseling center called Vita House and the broader community.
© Alice Clancy

The site is highly sensitive as it overlooks the town?s primary church, the Sacred Heart Cathedral, while the existing building is part of an architectural conservation area. The design arises from the client?s desire to create a peaceful welcoming place which can be a central part of community life.

© Alice Clancy

The design, therefore, seeks to be a ?good neighbor?, inspired in part by the simple pitched roofs and rectangular windows on the road as well as by 18th-century buildings like the City Assembly House in Dublin which contain a variety of unexpected spaces be...