Bótharbuí
The Irish Architecture Foundation’s contribution to the 2008 Venice Biennale was an exhibition called “The Lives of Spaces”. Architects Patrick Lynch and Simon Walker contributed a collaborative project on the subject of Bótharbui, a holiday home in West Cork designed in the 1960’s by Simon’s father, Robin Walker.
They renovated three already existing cottages and built three new ones in addition. Lynch said described the cottages as "[...] a modern version of a traditional villa: a place for serious cultural exchange and play, a salon as much as a retreat."
"Following Robin Walker’s “design method”, Bótharbuí is not conceived as an objective, geometric composition, but as a happening, a confluence of physical and perceptual phenomena. It represents a multiplicity of microcosms, each one with its own distinct, topological attributes. Any single spatial understanding is broken down into a sequence of different autonomous structures and rooms, organized according to variable positions within the terrain. The site sets up a classical dynamic, a precarious, shifting relationship between the building and the mountainside."
"[...] the original cottage and stone sheds, which orients and guides the actions of the inhabitants. We can see that, in its juxtaposition of ancient and modern forms, Bótharbuí confronts the memory of the past with a new topological spatial order."
