Architect paints it black in Portobello

David O'Shea tells EMMA CULLINANwhy he likes dark matter – and how he got seven courtyard gardens into one city house

David O’Shea of ODOS Architects designed his own house in Portobello, Dublin 8, and two similar houses beside it. He lives there with his wife, Sen, and son, Miles

How did you find the site?

I was originally designing three houses for three clients at the backs of their own houses. But then one of them intimated that he wanted to offload the site and Sen and I sat down and really looked at it. We fell in love with the lane. During the day it’s really busy and at weekends it’s dead quiet. You never see Frank, who runs the garage on the lane, without a pipe and you get the tobacco smell, which I love, coming into the bedroom in the morning. There are noises on a daily basis, from an industrial printing press and three photographers’ studios. You get teen models wandering around with their make-up bags.

What did the clients want?

Something highly contemporary and different. The black front screen was a debating point. When it arrived on site people wondered why this was not a glass house, but it is an inward looking house. The house has seven gardens over seven levels. There are morning courtyards and afternoon courtyards.

Was it different designing for you than for a client?

What was different was that I was now making decisions for the family. I learned a lot about what it is like to be a client and the service I offer now is better than before.

You have a lot of modern furniture: Verner Panton chairs, Corbusier, Eames . . .

I bought a few bits off Will [Walsh] in Wild Child. Will and myself have a fascination with chairs. He’s a great guy – loves his furniture and clothing. I have two lovely Eames chairs that I got from Will. I just wanted one but he wouldn’t break the pair – he’s very much like that. I have also gathered bits over the years.

Black is the dominant colour – including that screen at the front of the house

When the hoarding came down and you could see the building, I thought, what if I have made a massive mistake here? Not that I’m worried that people would say, “that’s yer man who did that f**king wall”. You feel for yourself and the client who has to live in this thing and you worry that neighbours will be thinking you have devalued their houses. But I remember when I designed a black house in O’Devaney Gardens and one night I was walking there in the rain and there were two girls. One said, “Jays what’s that?” The other said, “I don’t know. Looks f**king deadly.” So here were two kids who had never been on an architectural tour asking the question, “What’s that?” That’s why I am here and so what if it keeps me awake for one night? If a building makes people stop and question things then you have done your job.

Why did you decide on a black and white interior scheme?

I went to a lecture in Dublin by the architect Valerio Olgiati and part of it was about his new office which he lives above. He painted all the timber black and I was immediately struck by black as colour. I think in time this whole house will turn black – there will be no white in it – but I havent been brave enough yet.

I love green foliage against the black. I am a divil for going to nurseries and buying plants.

I mentioned it to Sen and she said, “yeah ok”, and I mentioned to the other clients and they said, “You’re crazy”. I started in the bedroom. I asked for a section of the ceiling to be in black. Then we painted the walls. It dramatically changes the way you perceive space. Colour has a huge impact and I didn’t want a white cube or gallery. There were no mirrors in the rooms or trees in the courtyard. But once all the components were in – including the furniture – it worked. It was hard to justify the decision without all the components. The black works because the glass walls in each room release into a courtyard. The fourth elevation is greenery and light. A study upstairs is the only room that is completely black and when you close the door it is a very nice space to be in. I was less brave when I came down to the kitchen – I just used black on the soffit.

I can hear passers-by saying, “Look, all their ceilings are painted black.”

In the evening, with the mood lighting turned on, shadows are cast around. Shadows cast on black walls are as interesting as ones on white walls.

Was this the first house you designed for yourself?

Yes. It was designed while I was waiting for Miles at tennis camp. I was in the car for two hours at UCD. It was more ideas then: the concept of a courtyard house. We abide by the ideal of a front and back garden in this country and we just don’t have a new housing typology.

Why do you like courtyards?

I saw them in apartment schemes on the Continent. The apartments built here in the 1990s had token balconies but people were obsessed with the internal floor area. The balcony was never really classified as a quality amenity.

When you spread the courtyards throughout the house do you use them more?

Yes, because the sun moves. The one by the kitchen is a great place for breakfast. In the afternoon the upper courtyard is a great place to read the papers and then the back courtyard is used for barbecues in the evenings.

The only one we don’t sit in is the main bedroom courtyard . That is a more night-time place. If we are watching a movie in bed we can have the blue courtyard lights on and with the black bamboo it’s kinda like a hotel room - like going away for the night. Although in reality the chance to lie in bed and watch a movie happens maybe once a year.

What is it like living in a house you designed yourself?

It has completely changed us. We have moved from a horizontal life to a vertical one. There are times of the day when we don’t hear Miles playing with friends in the basement and we can enjoy a courtyard as a couple.

It’s about spreading the word and showing people what, with a little bit of thought (architecture is not rocket science), buildings could look like. I don’t see this as a house for life. I’d like to hand it on to someone who would be really interested in living in something like this. I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing, to live in it for some years and then walk away from it.

What have you learned?

Not to be scared that once a decision is made that that’s it. There were times when I would come to site and think, “God I don’t like that thing”. I would worry if things didn’t line up. I desperately wanted the end of the stair to line up with part of the wall – and was talking for ages with the builder about it – but while I do worry and it is essential to get everything as right as possible, after six months living here I realise you do learn to live with inconsistencies and they don’t annoy you as much as you thought they would.

You learn to think, let’s not worry about those 600 things, let’s worry about these 400 things. What an architect sees, a lay person sees in a completely different way. Everyone knows what a good and bad standard of finish is but worrying about gaps in timber boarding lining up and taking huge pains to get capping pieces right . . . there I was trying to achieve all these well-detailed junctions and people just breeze in, have a barbecue and they’re gone. That showed me it is really about creating spaces that people enjoy, so let’s not beat one another up about the level to which you need to get a building to. It’s difficult enough designing and delivering buildings to worry about that – it’s not like a car part.

I use this house to show clients around and had not realised how far clients are willing to go with architecture and interiors. When clients see you living in something you designed it’s almost regarded as the test case. You’ve proved that it’s OK and we are all still living and getting on.