Ireland: Order of the cross

“The entrance is gravel, while the courtyard in front of the bedrooms, which face east, is lawn,” says O’Dwyer. “The living space faces south and has timber decking, while the kitchen looks onto a hard landscape of sandstone.”

In 2004, after working a long stint with Sam Stephenson and then Donnelly Turpin Architects for six years, O’Dwyer, set up his own practice on Dawson Street. McCormack, 31, knew the architect through his older brother, Sean, and approached him that year about a building project.

“I didn’t know anything about construction so I knew I had to get the right people,” says McCormack. “Noel was important because I was really wet behind the ears. He offered me his services for different stages — from the design and getting planning permission right up to the project-management. I decided to take him on for the entire job. Really, the success of the build is down to Noel.”

McCormack and his brother felt there was potential to do something bigger than a three-bed bungalow that would add value to the property.

“I had been looking into buying a house,” says McCormack. “Building one had always been at the back of my mind, but I thought it would be something I’d do further down the line. But this site came up and I spent on it what I had been planning to spend on a house, so it took a bit of balls.”

With his fingers in a few entrepreneurial pies — McCormack owns a garage in Bray and clothing shops in the south-east — he was used to juggling various projects at once.

“You hear about all the nightmares, so I was determined to treat it as a business and not get personal,” he says. “Inevitably, though, you get dragged into it. It was great that Noel was a buffer between me and the builders. I’m a different type of animal from a builder — I want everything done yesterday.”

There were no objections to the planning application, and the build period, with the contractor Derek O’Hagan, took place between February and November last year.

“Lorcan was receptive to the modern approach,” says O’Dwyer, 44. “I was showing him contemporary magazines and books, and he was progressive in his thinking. It was the first project for him and he got a good buzz out of it. He is particular about how things are done, which architects like.”

Stonework on the outside walls is informed by the walls of the original barn, which McCormack retained. “We took the roof down but decided to keep the wall, even though it’s well inside my boundary,” he says. “It runs along two sides of the outside area. There’s another stone wall that was part of a building as well, and there’s a lovely feature of a window in it.”

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On each arm, high-pitched slate roofing on one side is backed by lofty gable walls on the other. The graphic, dynamic form on the outside is carried through inside, with elegant sweeping features at the wall and ceiling joins.

“The curves under the sloped roof were deliberate,” says O’Dwyer. “On the other side of the high-pitched roofs there’s a high level of lighting into those rooms. Basically, the gables are high on that side of the building, so that allowed us to get light in from both directions and increased the volume and height of the rooms, adding space.”

There are three bedrooms in the house, but the entertainment room — which has a snooker table with Prussian blue lining — could be converted into a fourth. While most of the rooms are on the ground floor, including a shower room, the first floor is given over to the master bedroom and bathroom.

“The first floor is only as wide as any of the wings,” says O’Dwyer. “The stairwell is double height so that shortens any floorspace on the first floor as well. But the master bedroom and en-suite are a very large, generous space.

“The bedrooms get the sun in the morning. The upstairs room also has a long window over the living area, so there are windows looking out in two directions.”

Solid walnut is used lavishly: the kitchen fittings, interior doors and Escher-style staircase, with its exposed underside, are all made with the dark wood. “I wanted a high-end finish,” says McCormack. “I didn’t want it to look too modern or minimalist and I thought the wood would soften that. I hate light wood — I think it looks cheap. I wanted the same effect as when I check into a hotel like the Morrison — I wanted to be given the keys to a dream house.”

McCormack researched the interior design himself, albeit with advice from O’Dwyer. The polished bathrooms were fitted by Elegant John, and furniture was sourced from Lomi Design, with the fawn couch specially made in extra- large for the living space.

The only fridge that McCormack could find that was actual stainless steel rather than an effect was by Smeg. He wound up installing all Smeg appliances in the kitchen. While the dark wood may have masculine, bachelor overtones, McCormack has kept the colour scheme bright and light.

“Lorcan is a young guy, in his thirties, so the clean modern look comes from that,” says O’Dwyer. “If it looks masculine, it wasn’t intentional.”

Besides, McCormack has already road-tested the house on a family. He and his girlfriend, Diane McGarry, entertained a bundle of young nieces and nephews at Christmas.

“It was a big test and the house took it really well,” says McCormack. “Christmas Day is a good test of the design of a house — there was somewhere for everyone to hang out in.”

Originally from Cabinteely, McCormack says the peaceful countryside of Rathmichael has taken some getting used to. With the M50 on his doorstep, however, he’s got access to both the city and his business interests in Wicklow.

Nevertheless, McCormack has already decided to move on. He enjoyed the building process so much that he has decided to sell his first project and start all over again.

“I’ve yet to decide when, but I think I am going to sell,” he says. “I want to do another project but I’m finding it hard to get a site. I’ve bid on a few but they’ve gone for more than I thought they were worth. An ordinary garden-site development wouldn’t interest me.

“I’ve educated myself the whole way through and I want to actively focus on this kind of work in the future. I want to go on to bigger and brighter things — this is just a stepping stone.”