Radical new mews on a lane in Rathmines

Mews housing in Dublin has often been criticised for its chaotic character. So many lanes in Ballsbridge, Rathmines and elsewhere have been ruined by the ad hoc development of suburban-style "townhouses" that one might be tempted to start all over again with a completely new mews type.

That, in effect, is what architects Paul Kelly and Dermot Boyd did in collaboration with Dermot's brother Shane, who runs the Natural Cut hair salon in Wicklow Street. They got together to purchase a large shed in a short lane off Cambridge Road, Rathmines, in late 1995 for what then seemed like a steep £66,000.

The two architects work together in The Studio, on Upper Baggot Street, an informal practice that also includes Gary Lysaght, Michelle Fagan and Peter Cody. Like-minded colleagues and friends, they work together on collaborative projects.

All architects entertain the dream of designing their own homes, though few of them actually do so; adapting and modernising older houses is what most of them end up doing. But young Mr Kelly and Mr Boyd were determined to design their own living spaces - and Shane bravely threw in his lot with them.

Five years later, they are all delighted with themselves and the radical statement they have made in what is, after all, quite a conventional area. They can now look back with relative equanimity on the nightmare they had to endure in persuading the planning authorities to let them go ahead with the scheme.

They had no trouble convincing Michael Gough, then a senior planner with Dublin Corporation and a courageous supporter of modern architecture in the city. But after the Corporation granted permission, some of the local residents appealed and the decision was overturned on appeal by An Bord Pleanala.

The two architects among the triumvirate of hopeful homebuilders used this setback as an opportunity to modify and refine the design. But when they applied to the Corporation for a second time, they got a refusal. On this occasion, after they lodged an appeal, permission was finally granted by the board.

Completed last summer, the three houses comprise an oblong box at the end of the lane. Absolutely identical on the outside, they have full-height plate-glass screens on the upper level over a ground floor clad in untreated iroko, which is already going white in the sun. No bells or knockers disrupt the flush timber surfaces.

The intention was to maximise the living space and exploit the south-facing aspect of a quite restricted site. For that reason, all three open-plan livingrooms are located at first-floor level, in effect forming a platform with walls of glass to each end, which can be opened in the summer to turn the houses inside out.

The glazing is alternately clear or translucent, adding to the geometric quality of the composition. Because of planning constraints, the front room on each ground floor is technically a garage, though one cannot imagine them being used in this way - except, perhaps, to store a 1964 Mini, Dermot Boyd's favourite classic car.

According to Paul Kelly, there was a "strict regime" about the exterior, with individual expression confined to the interiors. In that respect, the three modern mews houses share some similarity with the uniformity of a Georgian terrace, where quite plain and even regimented facades conceal quite different layouts and styles within.

Apart from the open-plan living areas at first-floor level, arranged quite differently, each of the houses has nearly-identical main bedrooms to the rear, opening on to a shared courtyard - unusual in itself - and all three have their bathrooms at the end of the hall as well as extensive storage space under the stairs.

"Obviously, we had different ideas about how to use the main living space upstairs", says Paul Kelly. His house, which he shares with his interior designer wife Deirdre Whelan, has an island kitchen facing the stairs with a stainless steel work surface and a continuous run of cabinets floating above; the effect is like two magnets.

The floor here and the staircase are done in oak, but the floor on the entrance level is French limestone throughout - each house has under-floor heating fuelled by individual boilers, making the use of stone possible. Pivot doors are another common feature and the Kelly-Whelan bathroom has timeless mosaic on its walls. All doors are flush with the walls, in the minimalist style. One rather alarming aspect is that the floor-to-ceiling glazed screens in all three livingrooms open directly to the outside world, with no rails (at least not yet) to comply with the nanny State requirements of the Building Regulations to prevent anyone falling out.

The same is true of the white vinyl floor surrounding Dermot Boyd's staircase. From his great-uncle's whirring slide projector on a free-standing bookcase opposite, he likes to create different moods by projecting images on the white wall. He describes his kitchen, tucked in at the end, as a "floating stainless steel block".

Mr Boyd's bag of tricks also includes a translucent bathroom door, with candy pink fluorescent lighting behind it, to create a dramatic "light box" at the end of his hall. Alternatively, the pivoted iroko door - with an exhibitionist full-length mirror on its reverse side - can be pulled shut to read as timber-clad wall beside the staircase.

Each house has a roof-light over the stairs and fold-out steps giving access to the flat roof, where there are views towards John Semple's southside Black Church and the mountains beyond. "A lot of mews lanes have grisly roofscapes," the architect complains. "By having a flat roof, we have managed to keep the volume down".

Inevitably, perhaps, Shane Boyd's house is more exuberant, with an orange carpet throughout, an open staircase which he felt would be more welcoming, and a bathroom with a blue vinyl floor and orange Perspex splashback. Like the others, he plans to install a fireplace and already has a coal scuttle in waiting.

Despite the planning setbacks, he maintains that he never lost confidence in the architects' ability to produce the goods. Equally, they could not afford to have had him drop out, as they were all living in rented accommodation and this was the only shot they had to provide themselves with homes of their own.

WHAT they have ended up with, at an overall outlay of £100,000 each, would be the envy of many others hoping to get a foothold on the housing ladder - bright and spacious new homes, tailor-made for their own requirements, in a very quiet location less than two miles from the city centre.

"The real beauty of it is that we're all living in houses that we're really proud of," as Shane puts it. They have also bought a site next door to build two more houses in the same form, for sale on the open market. And it's a fair bet that these will sell for a lot more than £100,000 apiece. It will also be the most distinctive mews lane in Dublin.