{"id":663521,"date":"2026-08-30T10:52:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T10:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/663521\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T10:52:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T10:52:39","slug":"recreating-the-ideal-summer-house-on-cruit-island-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/663521\/","title":{"rendered":"Recreating the ideal summer house on Cruit Island \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

What makes a good house into a great home? Too often, designs are based on what might look good in an interiors spread, or on ideas of how we think we ought to want to live, instead of how we might feel when we\u2019re at our ease, inside and out. <\/p>\n

When Sosie Pasparakis and Ronan Friel were tasked with remaking a holiday home <\/a>on Donegal\u2019s Cruit Island, their first thought was to speak to members of each of the different generations who have enjoyed the house over the years. What they discovered was that when it comes to perfect childhood holidays, everyone doesn\u2019t need an en suite. <\/p>\n

The owners<\/a>\u2019 children, now adults with children of their own, remembered Cruit Island summers as being the time of their lives, every holiday night an extended sleepover, snuggled up with siblings, cousins and friends. <\/p>\n

\"'A‘A central cavernous space, designed as a contrast to the open living spaces.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy \"Photograph:Photograph: Peter Molloy \"'The‘The interior is a calm, almost gallery-like space, which does not detract from or compete with the views.’ Photograph: Peter Molloy <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a room of bunk beds,\u201d says Pasparakis. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a house with large bedrooms<\/a>, and the owners had said that what was important was their, and their children\u2019s, memories. A lot of their memories were in that bunk room. That they liked being packed in, like sardines; there was an excitement to it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Evidence of memories was everywhere<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was even a chess board cut into the lino,\u201d says Friel. Nevertheless, having been pivotal in the making of memories for generations, the house needed either very extensive renovation, or a rebuild. The owners went for the build. Pasparakis and Friel, born in Dorset and Donegal respectively, had been working on large projects in London, including the Number 1 Court at Wimbledon, and Terminal Two at Heathrow, but, as Friel puts it, they were starting from scratch when they decided to set up their own practice in 2018, and make a go of living and working in Rathmullan. Since then, they have used their feel for place to work on local and regional heritage and regeneration planning. Their projects include houses in such settings as other urban architects may only dream of. <\/p>\n

Cruit Island is one of these. \u201cThey had tales of all the families and friends coming for the summer, of swimming out to the islands, of what a magical place it is.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"‘Cruit\u2018Cruit Island granite outcrops.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy \"‘Cruit\u2018Cruit Island Marram grass landscape.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy <\/p>\n

The original house sat on a low cliff, with views across the bay and to the beach below. Grasslands and rocks extend to the horizon, and it is one of those spots which, while it must be heaven in the sunshine, you\u2019re pretty sure is also great in a storm. <\/p>\n

Friel describes their approach <\/a>as being a collaboration. \u201cWe really enjoy the idea of starting something and coming out the other end with something you didn\u2019t expect, that you\u2019d create by engaging with the client and bringing their personalities into it,\u201d he says. \u201cAt Cruit, it was more about their memories than design requirements,\u201d adds Pasparakis, \u201cthings like the bunk beds, the chessboard, the sand coming in, the proximity to the outside\u201d.<\/p>\n

Of course, in any collaboration, ideas shift and change, and occasionally there is a little persuasion. \u201cInitially, the clients wanted us to remove a pair of rock outcrops,\u201d says Friel. But, realising the rocks not only provided character, but shelter, the architects suggested incorporating them into the design. \u201cWe have created an outside space between the building and the rock, so you\u2019re engaging with the landscape immediately; you\u2019re set up against the rock.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"TheThe space between the house and the rock has a certain intimacy in which new \u2018external rooms\u2019 are created. Photograph: Peter Molloy \"‘Hunkering\u2018Hunkering into its Island context.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy <\/p>\n

In this, they haven\u2019t quite gone the full C\u00e9sar Manrique: the late Spanish artist and architect\u2019s Lanzarote home <\/a>so celebrates the island\u2019s volcanic rocks that some appear to flow into the house through specially constructed walls and windows. Instead, the Cruit rocks, which are so typical of the island, flank the house, shaping a walkway to the front door. It also creates a sheltered outside room, as another thing typical feature of the island is the wind. Mindful of its moods, the architects have given the road-facing side of the building a more closed-off facade, adding, from a distance, a bit of the agricultural shed to the aesthetic. <\/p>\n

This helps the design to pull off the clever trick of sitting the building in the landscape, as if it has belonged for a long time, while also not only offering shelter, but giving you the sudden opening up and reveal of the beautiful views. Grass green accents to the window frames and doors soften the look. The intriguing corrugated fibre cement roof, Friel says, was inspired by the stone-roofed buildings you see across west Donegal. \u201cWe were conscious of the micro and macro views,\u201d he says. \u201cHow it reads in the wider landscape, or from the other peninsula, as well as up close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"‘The\u2018The house sits below a crest on a quiet island
\nroad.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy \"‘Monotone,\u2018Monotone, muted tones of roughcast rendered walls and a corrugated fibre cement roof.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy \"‘Light\u2018Light filters through the spaces between the rocks and the house.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy \"‘The\u2018The house opens up to the east and to the views of the sea and landscape.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy <\/p>\n

Inside, the entrance hallway widens to a large living space with huge windows to the bay. Pasparakis and Friel have deliberately lowered the ceiling heights at the entrance, and at various points, so you get the drama of things opening up, and the different plays of light and shade. The main living space also incorporates the kitchen and eating area. This is where the generations can gather. There are three bedrooms, plus the all-important bunk room, and mindful of the passions and pastimes of the various family members, there is a storeroom, a spot for kayaks and surfboards and a room to rinse off in. Outside, you\u2019ll find a wraparound patio for games for the younger ones, sundowners for the older generations, and barbecues for all. <\/p>\n

The architects also designed the kitchen, lounge seating and plenty of storage, including under-bench drawers for all those board games \u2013 no need to attack the floor with a knife this time round. There are witty touches too, such as the hatch between the kitchen and the hallway, so people can be called to dinner, or possibly even stick their heads in and offer help with the cooking. <\/p>\n

\"Photograph:Photograph: Peter Molloy \"‘Cruit\u2018Cruit Island Marram grass landscape.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy \"'A‘A low, long, linear outcrop funnels one towards the entrance, the beach and the bay beyond.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Molloy <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we can imagine the children using it to put on a puppet show, or making it into a shop, all the ways they can play,\u201d says Pasparakis.<\/p>\n

These playful overtones apart, the overall backdrop has been kept minimal, with raw wood and neutral colours. An AAI Award winner, and shortlisted by the RIAI in 2026, the house at Cruit Island has been transformed, not into an austere showpiece, despite the clarity of the architects\u2019 images. Instead, Pasparakis Friel have used their instinct for the landscape to create a series of warm and atmospheric spaces as a backdrop for the extended family to enjoy, and to fill with their own colour, possessions and memories for all the generations to come. <\/p>\n

pasparakisfriel.com <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What makes a good house into a great home? Too often, designs are based on what might look…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[280342,367,365,362,363,364,366,6368,18,117,19,17],"class_list":["post-663521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-architect-designed","tag-architecture","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-donegal","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117184086444947577","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}