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The Sunday Times
October 2004

Star Treatment For A Little Semi
Dara Flynn looks at some of the buildings that won gongs and commendations at this year’s Opus awards — the equivalent of Oscars for Irish architects and Builders

When the owners of a 1930s semi-D on Griffith Avenue in Dublin opted for a revamp, they didn’t realise just how far the “decoration” would go. They asked for a rear extension, the most humdrum of domestic structural jobs, and at the very most, expected their new annexe to top up the value of their home.

Instead, their house won a top award at the architectural equivalent of the Oscars, the Opus awards. The newest chunk of their semi-D, once known as “the hole in the house” and later simply as “the new extension”, is now loftily entitled “Northern Exposure”.

The 1,100-sq-ft extension, lined up against an array of master designs at Tuesday night’s Opus awards, picked up a cast bronze sculpture in the under-€500,000 category.

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