The Origami House
Written by Jennifer Heyns
Uniquely talented architect Jane D. Burnside designed a house in Northern Ireland that is somehow as lovely as she is. The brilliant Origami House sits surrounded by trees and looks about the size of small village.
One glance at this house and you can see how it got its name – the multiple pitches of rooftops that cap the snow-white structure resemble ornate folds of paper art. In reality, the rooftops are supported by eight different pavilions that make up the home. The majority of the pavilions are strung together, making a continuous floor plan on the interior of the house. The others are connected by a footbridge that unites the two structures.
Stark white inside and out, the house is a clear contrast to the bright blue skies and lush green landscape that surround it. Though you can’t see it from the photos, the house sits within view of a beautiful waterfall. What you can see is the breathtaking creek that wanders onto the property beneath the footbridge.
To allow the homeowners the same sense of origami inside that passers-by get from the exterior, the pavilions that make up the living spaces contain vaulted ceilings that cascade throughout the home.
In this very natural setting, only one tree was removed for the sake of building the Origami House.
The home’s already been recognized in the building industry and has won awards from the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). It was awarded Highly Commended in the 2009 RIAI Awards for Best House and was shortlisted in the RIBA Awards 2009 for Best House.
What others have said
That's a lot of white! I'd be interested to see a variety of earth tones applied to the same design. I like my home to blend in to the environment rather than stand out from it.
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I’m torn over this design. On one hand who could argue with all those high ceilings and rooms so generously filled with air and sunlight? So many modern homes suffer unbearably under boxy, rectangular designs and vast expanses of low, flat ceilings. On the other hand the roof line of this house is, well, kind of tacky. Looks like a magnified section of a saw-blade, with those silly repetitive angles. I guess I could live in it but I wouldn’t want to come home to it.