I’ve been meaning to do this for a while and prompted by a few and considering the amount of words I write anyway for magazine articles and blog posts; it was a logical progression to extend the word count into a book.

But yet, this book is no ordinary book… I’m going to serialise it in the blog and give it away for free, yes you heard right – completely FREE! When everything is complete, I’ll probably self-publish and sell a few online for any interested parties who would like a spanky, bound version; who knows I may also sell it as an e-book.

So what’s this book about ?

The topic has been bugging me for a while and it stems from my local Councils’ guidelines (Mayo County Council as it happens, (Western most county in Ireland – next stop USA)) concerning the design of one-off rural houses; they have produced an excellent publication on design considerations that you should be thinking off when building a home in the Mayo countryside. I’m not going to summarise this excellent publication (inspired partly by another excellent publication by Cork County Council on ‘Building a House in the Countryside’), if you’re interested you can DOWNLOAD THE GUIDELINES HERE.

What’s interesting about these guidelines is that traditional, rural architecture is very easy to define and the document gives excellent examples on what you should be considering when designing your dwelling. There is also a provision for designing more contemporary architecture; “High quality contemporary’ style house design is encouraged on suitable sites.”. Included are a few basic guidelines with the recommendation to “employ the services of an experienced qualified Architect” ; all good stuff you may think but what exactly is a suitable contemporary architecture for the Mayo countryside ?

That is the purpose of this book; to give guidelines on what constitutes a sensitive contemporary architecture, to give worldwide examples of built houses that full fill this ‘contemporariness’ but are still relevant and have an ‘understanding’ of their location and environment.

I have some examples that I’m going to use in mind, but if you’re shouting I SHOULD BE IN THAT BOOK! Then please CONTACT me with your details and example.

Below are the key areas that I’m going to explore, and which will also form the chapters of the book:

And in the great tradition of the interactive web; if you think I’m leaving anything off that’s important then let me know.

It’s going to take me a while to get everything collated so please bear with me but when I’ve done a nice big chunk I’ll post…