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Dublin Design Studio Architects and Designers

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We are a multi-award winning practice of architects and designers of over 20 years in practice. Dublin Design Studio is a multi-disciplinary design studio.

Established by architects David Craig and Niall Henry, who have been collaborating on projects since 1999, Dublin Design Studio was formed out of a desire to focus on design excellence whether it be the realisation of contemporary architecture or the intricacies of product design and user experience design. The services provided by our experienced team of architects and designers cover the entire construction process from an initial pre-design phase, through the planning process, to tender negotiations, contract administration and construction. Each project is approached as a collaborative effort, between designer and client and an intimate understanding of their brief and context.

17/10/2026

The kitchen at the refurbishment of a terraced cottage in Ranelagh. http://bit.ly/2Vlg9nZ.

The project involved the extension and refurbishment of a 130-year-old, 2-storey terraced house into a spacious home for an extended family. The extension is part 3-storey and part single-storey. Use of rooflights to get light deep into the plan. Careful restoration of original features with restrained modern design interventions. The kitchen and dining become the heart of the home, with a focus on usability and storage to support busy family life. The addition of a sun-filled playroom and the relocation of the staircase enable a flexible, efficient internal layout. On the first floor, space is allocated for a family bathroom, an ensuite, and a dressing room..

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15/10/2026

Clean lines make the difference at the transformation of Sandymount House. http://bit.ly/39ZqFVZ.

The work to Sandymount House comprises the extension and refurbishment of this prominent dwelling on the coast of Blackrock, County Louth. The existing house, situated approximately 20m from the beach, offered views of the Cooley Mountains and the Mourne Mountains beyond. This unique location provided opportunities to create a striking piece of modern architecture.
This substantial project involved the sensitive restoration and refurbishment of the existing structure, returning many of the original features and enhancing them with contemporary elements that complemented the original fabric. The existing building fabric has been upgraded using best practices to create a living environment that fends off the weather in this particularly exposed location.
The extension to the South contains the main family living spaces over three levels and runs parallel, yet separated from the original building. This separation slot has been utilised to expose the original South façade of the existing building and provide vertical circulation through a void that connects the main family spaces.
Broad horizontal floor plates architecturally dominate the extension, and extensive glazing utilises materials similar to those of the existing building, complementing and enhancing the original dwelling. Although minimal in aesthetic, the design and construction team faced challenges in achieving this striking architecture on an exposed site, situated on a bed of sand, as the house’s name suggests.
A further lower extension to the North and West provides vehicle parking and support spaces, deliberately kept below ground level, to allow the restored building, stripped of unflattering later additions, to be seen again.
The design of the interiors was developed in conjunction with Roisin Lafferty and her team and features sumptuous and meticulously detailled materials and finishes.
Barbara Corsico took these beautiful photos of the project..

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13/10/2026

Old meets new at the restoration of Sandymount House. http://bit.ly/39ZqFVZ.

The work to Sandymount House comprises the extension and refurbishment of this prominent dwelling on the coast of Blackrock, County Louth. The existing house, situated approximately 20m from the beach, offered views of the Cooley Mountains and the Mourne Mountains beyond. This unique location provided opportunities to create a striking piece of modern architecture.
This substantial project involved the sensitive restoration and refurbishment of the existing structure, returning many of the original features and enhancing them with contemporary elements that complemented the original fabric. The existing building fabric has been upgraded using best practices to create a living environment that fends off the weather in this particularly exposed location.
The extension to the South contains the main family living spaces over three levels and runs parallel, yet separated from the original building. This separation slot has been utilised to expose the original South façade of the existing building and provide vertical circulation through a void that connects the main family spaces.
Broad horizontal floor plates architecturally dominate the extension, and extensive glazing utilises materials similar to those of the existing building, complementing and enhancing the original dwelling. Although minimal in aesthetic, the design and construction team faced challenges in achieving this striking architecture on an exposed site, situated on a bed of sand, as the house’s name suggests.
A further lower extension to the North and West provides vehicle parking and support spaces, deliberately kept below ground level, to allow the restored building, stripped of unflattering later additions, to be seen again.
The design of the interiors was developed in conjunction with Roisin Lafferty and her team and features sumptuous and meticulously detailled materials and finishes.
Barbara Corsico took these beautiful photos of the project..

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11/10/2026

A unique challenge and our interior designer's relentless pursuit of perfection - the staircase at the transformation of Sandymount House. http://bit.ly/39ZqFVZ.

The work to Sandymount House comprises the extension and refurbishment of this prominent dwelling on the coast of Blackrock, County Louth. The existing house, situated approximately 20m from the beach, offered views of the Cooley Mountains and the Mourne Mountains beyond. This unique location provided opportunities to create a striking piece of modern architecture.
This substantial project involved the sensitive restoration and refurbishment of the existing structure, returning many of the original features and enhancing them with contemporary elements that complemented the original fabric. The existing building fabric has been upgraded using best practices to create a living environment that fends off the weather in this particularly exposed location.
The extension to the South contains the main family living spaces over three levels and runs parallel, yet separated from the original building. This separation slot has been utilised to expose the original South façade of the existing building and provide vertical circulation through a void that connects the main family spaces.
Broad horizontal floor plates architecturally dominate the extension, and extensive glazing utilises materials similar to those of the existing building, complementing and enhancing the original dwelling. Although minimal in aesthetic, the design and construction team faced challenges in achieving this striking architecture on an exposed site, situated on a bed of sand, as the house’s name suggests.
A further lower extension to the North and West provides vehicle parking and support spaces, deliberately kept below ground level, to allow the restored building, stripped of unflattering later additions, to be seen again.
The design of the interiors was developed in conjunction with Roisin Lafferty and her team and features sumptuous and meticulously detailled materials and finishes.
Barbara Corsico took these beautiful photos of the project..

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09/10/2026

The approach to a design for Ringsend Community Centre. http://bit.ly/32qErhR.

The ambition in the design of the Community Centre was to provide a dynamic public space both within the new building and in the vibrant space created by setting the building back from the building line on Thorncastle Street. This is an informal space for people to gather and is visually open to the building's activities The design was to incorporate creche facilities and associated open spaces, a multi-purpose hall, incubator units for start-ups, community offices and a cyber cafe..

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07/10/2026

Stone detailing at the Galtee Lodge ECO house, Howth. http://bit.ly/32mDsiC.

This substantial house maximises the site's fantastic views over Howth Harbour and Ireland's Eye. It's designed with two ground floors that connect to adjoining gardens, and it takes advantage of the sloping site by presenting two storeys to the front and one to the rear.
The main living spaces on the upper level open to a private back garden and a generous terrace with stunning views. The open-plan kitchen-living-dining room is bright with panoramic views. The family room shares a log-burning stove and gains access to the large terrace.
The main bedroom suite is also on the upper level with its private terrace. The staggered arrangement of family bedrooms integrates the house into the site and streetscape, each enjoying the views. The entrance hall features a bespoke curved glass-and-steel staircase and natural materials such as walnut and oak, creating warmth and luxury.
The house is highly energy-efficient with high insulation levels, airtightness, and solar water heating, ensuring a comfortable and cost-effective living environment.
The Irish Independent property section recently ran a substantial feature about this particular house..

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05/10/2026

The outdoor terrace at a striking extension with a stepped plan form in Clontarf. https://bit.ly/3OtUa6U.

A stepped plan that responds to the internal composition of spaces was tightly integrated with the south and west-facing garden of this house in Clontarf. This was achieved through extensive glazing. However, the high level of transparency led to concerns about potential overheating and privacy. A novel approach to using louvres as a strong design element was developed, providing a practical, passive solution whilst creating a striking counterpoint to the street. The louvres are formed with a frame of oversized industrial steel members that support a grid of somewhat rustic timber joists. This was not about a high-tech element, and the seemingly crude louvres contrast with the tightly coordinated frameless glazing and decking. The louvres and frames are finished in black, which contrasts further with the light colours of the interiors..

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03/10/2026

View from the bedroom of a development of 3 award winning mews houses. http://bit.ly/32lj3dX.

This scheme places three two-storey contemporary dwellings on a vacant plot at the intersection of the back gardens of some 20 semi-detached and detached dwellings in the established residential community of Clontarf, Dublin. The site is approached via a 5.5m wide laneway between two semi-detached dwellings and is hidden from the street.
The site is 70m long and just 10m wide, sharing garden boundaries with seven dwellings to the north and a 4m wide laneway to the south. Site constraints, privacy, and overshadowing dictate the building geometry, orientation, and size.
The core project concept was to maximise the available site area of each house without impacting the amenity of any adjoining dwellings. To achieve this, the footprint of each site, including the garden and house, was conceived as a single entity. The garden is an integral part of the overall ground-floor plan; a mirror image of the house plan, interlocking with it. By 'introverting' the external garden area into the house's design, the site area is maximised without impacting the adjoining dwellings.
This concept allows the ground floor to be as open-plan as possible and to avail of the site's south-west orientation. As such, the laneway façade is designed as a defensive or boundary walfaçaderced only by small openings with timber louvre screens. On the garden side, in sharp contrast, full-height glazing 3 meters high allows maximum pe*******on of light deep into the plan from the south and west façades.
The first-floor level is treated in much the same way as the ground floor, with all windows focused around a planted sedum roof. This south-facing roof garden and full-height glazing to the bedrooms allow light to pe*****te deep into the bedrooms, without the possibility of direct or indirect overlooking of adjoining properties. The lroko louvres at ground floor level are extended to the first-floor level to form a privacy screen, ensuring that no oblique overlooking is possible.
The'‘openness and transparency' of the south and west façades at ground floor level juxtaposes sharply façadese 'closed' treatment of the east and north façades. These façades are left solid brick, ensuring a view of adjoining gardens.
The first-floor brick-clad box accentuates the solidity of these inward-looking sculptural volumes, with architectural glazing carefully placed to avoid overlooking. The uncompromising outward façade projects a determination to ensure the prifaçadef those inside and of those in surrounding houses..

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01/10/2026

Dormers add drama at this recently completed project. https://bit.ly/4ggOFac.

This project was for the complete remodelling and extension of the existing two-storey dwelling.
The brief was to give the building new, coherent, and integrated facades and a flexible floor plan that would work for a modern family. Carrickhill Road has a long and varied architectural history, and each style reflects its time. This led to a design that combines modern details and materials with more traditional shapes. This proposal plays with the traditional architecture of the dormer roof by giving it a sculptural look, making it clear that it is a modern intervention.
The house was designed so that as much of the extra floor space as possible was added to the back of the existing house. The proposed first-floor extensions and new roof were also designed to give the house a new look from the street while still fitting in with the existing streetscape. To do this, the design plan is to retain the existing house's footprint on the ground floor and place the proposed additional floor space at the back of the house. At the first-floor level, the proposal is to extend the existing ground-floor footprint to the west and extend the existing first floor to the rear at the eastern end of the house. The existing pitched roof will be replaced with a new pitched roof that has space for front and back dormer roof windows.
The existing single-storey porch has been replaced with a new linear cantilevered entrance canopy with built-in planters and rain-screen cladding on the walls. This adds a modern touch to the building's character, and the canopy's straight lines match the newly strengthened planar emphasis of the elevation. The proposed rear elevation includes a contemporary brick-and-render extension on the ground floor, as well as two new flat-roofed volumes with large glazed openings that step out beyond the existing building line. The existing first floor is extended westward over the current single-story element. This emphasises the linear nature of the front and back elevations and strengthens the design by keeping the existing solid and void rhythms on the façade..

29/09/2026

A masterpiece of engineering and curved stone. The staircase at the extension and refurbishment of Sandymount House. http://bit.ly/39ZqFVZ.

The work to Sandymount House comprises the extension and refurbishment of this prominent dwelling on the coast of Blackrock, County Louth. The existing house, situated approximately 20m from the beach, offered views of the Cooley Mountains and the Mourne Mountains beyond. This unique location provided opportunities to create a striking piece of modern architecture.
This substantial project involved the sensitive restoration and refurbishment of the existing structure, returning many of the original features and enhancing them with contemporary elements that complemented the original fabric. The existing building fabric has been upgraded using best practices to create a living environment that fends off the weather in this particularly exposed location.
The extension to the South contains the main family living spaces over three levels and runs parallel, yet separated from the original building. This separation slot has been utilised to expose the original South façade of the existing building and provide vertical circulation through a void that connects the main family spaces.
Broad horizontal floor plates architecturally dominate the extension, and extensive glazing utilises materials similar to those of the existing building, complementing and enhancing the original dwelling. Although minimal in aesthetic, the design and construction team faced challenges in achieving this striking architecture on an exposed site, situated on a bed of sand, as the house’s name suggests.
A further lower extension to the North and West provides vehicle parking and support spaces, deliberately kept below ground level, to allow the restored building, stripped of unflattering later additions, to be seen again.
The design of the interiors was developed in conjunction with Roisin Lafferty and her team and features sumptuous and meticulously detailled materials and finishes.
Barbara Corsico took these beautiful photos of the project..

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Address

East Wall Road
Dublin
D03A0X4

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+35319023944

Website

http://www.dublindesignstudio.com/

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