Dermot Bannon: Secret to a home workspace and how to prepare for meeting an architect

RIAI Simon Open Door consultations run from May 4 to May 14. Dermot finds them fun, useful and 'a bit like speed dating'

Wed, 04 May, 2022 - 17:00

Eve Kelliher, Home Editor

What is the secret to finding the sweet spot in your home for a dream workspace?

The hybrid working style may be here to stay, and let’s face it, we are not all going to be in a position to install a palatial loft-style home office anytime soon.

I call Dermot Bannon to find out.

Dermot Bannon launches the RIAI Simon Open Door campaign with Jennifer Kitson and Kathryn Meghen.

Ireland’s most high-profile architect doesn’t miss a beat. “Just get your laptop and get yourself set up in the nicest spot in the house,” he tells me. “That’s what I always say to people. Is your front sitting room bathed in light all day long? Well, you want to be in there.”

I am talking to Dermot ahead of the Simon Open Door campaign, which is run in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and kicks off this week.

Dermot Bannon at home. Picture: Ruth Maria Photography

As I swiftly swivel a few degrees to catch the rays streaming in the window, we talk about other clever tricks people can deploy to tweak their room settings as well as the questions homeowners need to ask to maximise the opportunity the Open Door campaign offers them. You can register at www.riaisimonopendoor.iewww..ie to take part in the event, which runs from May 4-14.

In return for a €95 donation, homeowners receive an hour-long consultation with an RIAI-registered architect to discuss building, rebuilding or renovating their homes.

This year consultations can take place online or in-person and all funds raised go directly to Simon Communities to support their work tackling homelessness.

How did Dermot get involved?

“Before I did Room To Improve, I was working for another practice and I used to take part in the Simon Open door event. I’ve been taking part in it since its inception,” he says.

“Then I was asked if I would mind becoming an ambassador. It’s a great day. There’s a bit of a festival feel about it — as an architect you’re getting to meet people, there are new people in every hour. It’s a bit like speed dating.

Many people “have lots of questions for architects but they don’t feel their project is big enough”, notes Dermot.

“And for a €95 donation so they don’t feel it’s a big enough spend. I’ve often had people come into me with very small problems and they can go away and find they don’t need to engage an architect — the architect might have solved the problem in the consultation,” he adds.

The tiny matter of huge extensions being a case in point.

“Lots of people come in with the need for an extension,” says Dermot.

Interiors in the Dairy Farm retrofit in County Wicklow. This project was by Studio Red Architects and arose out of an RIAI Simon Open Door consultation. Picture: Peter Grogan

The good news is often that homeowners may discover they might have more space than they thought, after the consultation.

“Many people are not using 80% of their house at all,” adds Dermot.

Interiors in a retrofitted home by Brennan Furlong Architects, one of the practices taking part in the RIAI Simon Open Door campaign. Picture: Richard Hatch Photography

“I often meet people who are going through milestones, suddenly after years there are just two of them, their children are reared, they are downsizers who have reared all their children, paid for them through college and now it’s their turn to enjoy life and they have a big clatter of rooms and they are trying to bring all these rooms back to life.

A farmhouse retrofit in County Wicklow. This project was by Studio Red Architects and arose out of an RIAI Simon Open Door consultation. Picture: Peter Grogan

“It’s often simply about reconfiguring their rooms.”

So how should homeowners prepare for a consultation with an architect? Bring plenty of photographs and lots of plans, advises Dermot.

“As an architect, I examine the whole house. If someone comes into me and says, I need to put in an extension, I want to try to get a picture of it.”

Gather up “as much information as you can as well as photos of the house,” he adds. “What are the nice views; we’ve got phones now, find out where north is in relation to the house, everyone’s got a compass on their phone so there’s no excuse.”

I want to know what Dermot thinks about those echoes we have been hearing, across all those warehouse-like living room/kitchen/dining room/s that the end of open-plan living could be in sight?

Open-plan space in Dermot's own home. Pictures: Ruth Maria Photography

He’s unconvinced. “Open-plan saved us during lockdown — it meant that we all tended to be in the same room,” he says. “The room was big enough that it was suitable for us all to hang out but not to be sitting next to each other — there was psychological comfort there; it was like an open-plan office but still there was the comfort of being in your own bubble.

“But hopefully we’ll get back to family gatherings and an open-plan space works for all that.”

In fact, it’s the open-plan area in his own home that is his “happy space”, he admits.

“I love our open-plan space. We have a little spot at the front and we have a couch that we meant to throw out but then lockdown happened and the dog sits up on it and I sit there, and there’s a view out to the church opposite,” he says. “It just goes to show that you can be in a separate area in an open-plan space.”

Tricks such as creating alcoves and good use of lighting are what make open-plan and broken-plan spaces work best, he adds.

“The kitchen table has to be a space where you can do homework but also during the pandemic you needed to have a takeaway there, so you could turn down the lighting for instance if you needed to create a special space.

“Lighting, furniture, positioning of doors — there are lots of little tricks to making open-plan spaces work. I don’t think open-plan is dead at all.”

That said, he is also interested in the concept of the “getting away from it all room” — somewhere you can Zoom call and watch TV”.

When renovating his own house, Dermot says he was able to use “all the lessons I learned over the years”.

“ Room To Improve was a gift, in a certain way," he adds.

“I now know the perfect layout for a kitchen, because I’ve done so many. I know what works. I know the same for a living room — I know what makes a cosy living room and what makes a warehouse. It’s kind of like a doctor with 20 or 30 years under their belt — I’m the same when it comes to houses.”