The Irish Times

While holiday homes in Ireland are traditionally thought of as basic period cottages, or hacienda style new builds, perhaps on an estate, there is evidence that more people are choosing architects to design something special for them. This is a trend that the editor of Architecture Ireland and House magazines, Sandra Andrea O'Connell has witnessed of late. "Architect-designed holiday homes have featured strongly in our magazines and seem to be evidence of both the increasing wealth in Irish society and of a greater awareness of the expertise and vision that an architect can bring to a project, no matter how modest or extravagant the holiday home is," she says. One that has featured widely in recent years is the house on Dirk Cove in west Cork by Niall McLaughlin, which sits out over a cliff. Indeed, the architect now says that this - and a house he designed on an Oxfordshire hillside - has given him a reputation for cliff-top homes and he has had requests to design more in this country.