Boxing clever with garage conversion

One of this year's unusual RIAI awards is a recognition of the application of the architect's skill to what is probably Ireland's most commonplace building job - the garage conversion. The award was given to the relatively new practice, Box Architects, for its serenely beautiful work on Carol and Oliver Whelan's garage at their home in Dun Laoghaire.

Thousands of garages are "converted" to play rooms or extra bedrooms annually. And, in their citation for the conversion, the RIAI judges said: "Garage conversions are probably the most common of all domestic extensions. In most instances the design solution ranges from a simple match of the existing house to plain appalling. This solution is entirely different."

The judges applauded the conversion's enhancement of the living space, allowing it to "flow freely" from the interior to the garden through clever use of a glazed door and screen. It was a conversion, that "breaks the boundaries".

Gary Mongey and Dave Dwyer, the partners in Box, said that their intention in the scheme was driven by the client's desire for additional living space and to make a physical link with the external environment. They set out to achieve this by creating an "inside/ outside" space by projecting the horizontal plane of the ceiling beyond the enclosure and by continuing the floor plane to an exterior wooden deck. "It is about light and the movement of light."

They also pointed out that with the ever increasing rise in the price of houses, more and more people were extending rather than trading up, and the application of good architectural standards to conversions and extensions gave people a better quality of living space rather than a mere add-on.

Part of the achievement of an "inside/ outside" space literally hinges on the large pivotal glazed door that leads from the garage on to the decking and garden.

The RIAI award is the second prestigious prize for Box's garage conversion. Last September, it won the Opus Building of the Year at Plan Expo in the RDS.

Then, Ciaran O'Connor, chairman of the judging panel and senior architect of the Office of Public Works said: "It was uplifting to see the creative effort expended by the architects in tackling the normally mundane brief of a low-cost garage conversion with intelligence, ingenuity and innovation."

Mr O'Connor described the work as an example of where "architectural skill transcends pure utility to give a caring client with a limited budget a memorable space".