The circle of life in city home with a dome

The corner has been turned on this majestic circular house. Tommy Barker visits the finished product on a two acre site in Cork.

DESIGNING and building a circular house, from scratch, could have driven the team behind such a project — from owners to architect, and from carpenters to roofers and plasterers — around the twist.

But, it didn’t: the only twist in the tale of the Round House’s seamless delivery is the circular, helical staircase, its very heart and pivot, one topped by an ocular domed window, very much an eye on the sky.