Stone cool sober: Carmody Groarke create an intense spatial experience in a new basement in Limerick.

This private spa forms part of an ambitious residential extension in Limerick, south-west Ireland. Brought onto the project relatively late, once another architect's plans to double the size of the house were already in place, the challenge faced by Carmody Groarke (winners of Building Design's 2007 Young Architect of the Year Award) was to carve out sufficient space beneath and around the building footings for a 17.5 x 8m swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room and gymnasium. Beyond this, the architectural challenge they set themselves was to produce a series of spaces with order, coherence and integrity that would set their work apart from the traditional and eclectic expression adopted elsewhere in the house.

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Rather than shouting about how inventively problems were solved, a muted, expressionless language was adopted. So, while some may have amplified the many clever details required to build what is essentially a machine for exercising in, Carmody Groarke chose to focus on atmosphere and ritual. To this end they established rules that would bring material and spatial order, exploring relationships between stone, water, and light.

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After extensive excavation, employing chemical explosives, a 10m deep hole created space for Carmody Groarke's orthogonal limestone box. Into this they set two pools, carving a jacuzzi and swimming pool in black Sicilian basaltina. Two freestanding limestone blocks flank these dark wet masses, containing sauna and steam rooms, and on axis sits a glass-screened gymnasium.

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Entering via a narrow fumed-oak stairwell, a triangular anteroom neatly resolves geometries of the double butterfly plan house. Beyond this, the traditional world of domestic interiors is left behind, allowing family and guests to journey down into a more sensual and magical subterranean realm. As if passing through an oak wardrobe, a cavernous world awaits, with no ornament or detail; a place in which water and stone produce such an extreme spatial focus, that even a single drop of water would be sufficient to produce visual and acoustic resonance.

Turning through 90 degrees, the pool creates a strong axis that culminates in a toplit wall; naturally lit by day, and balanced by a range of artificial light scenes at night. Providing just the right amount of theatre (as colours range from cool blue to warm pink), the ultimate scenographic transformation occurs when the pool's stone floor rises from the depths, displacing water through agonisingly precise 3mm joints, to create a solid terrace: a child-safe surface, with all of the quality of a fine Sicilian patio, freshly washed down after a cooling rain shower.

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Above this the folded glass reinforced plaster ceiling (formed in one piece before being cut and shipped to site in sections) neatly conceals tapering air ducts and perimeter lighting, underlying the architect's prioritisation of spatial intent over creative trickery, and establishing this as a thoroughly mature and accomplished work.

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Architect

Carmody Groarke, London

Kevin Carmody, Andy Groarke,

Andrew House

Photographs

Christian Richters

PRIVATE SPA,

LIMERICK, IRELAND

ARCHITECT

CARMODY GROARKE