Home > Journal > Issue Nine > A Residence for the Taoiseach

A Residence for the Taoiseach - Zaha Hadid
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The two houses were to be connected not only by the road but by a covered walkway.

The road system works like an artery feeding the various houses on the site.

The reception rooms in the Taoiseach's residence border the eastern approach road and provide a screen for the Taoiseach's house which in turn intersects the reception rooms, creating a private garden area for the permanent inhabitants.

The State Guest House is placed within the existing walled garden with all the rooms situated and contained around its perimeter.

The only two elements which break away from the confines of the wall are the entrance reception block and the principal suite which floats out over the garden.

The only control imposed upon nature occurs within this area, while the rest of the parkland is left free from any intervention. The forms of the plan are designed to induce a feeling of freedom from gravity, a feeling of liberation from bureaucratic and stressful aspects of political and public life. They indicate a new aesthetic, a dynamic which has no reference to Ireland's history and architectural typologies.