THE NEW SERIES of RTE favourite Room To Improve launched on Sunday with quantity surveyor Claire Irwin returning to keep architect Dermot Bannon on his toes. This season sees Dermot and team work on houses in Charlestown in Mayo, Palmerstown in Dublin and Aughris in Sligo among others. Ruth O’Connor caught up with the popular architect to discuss balancing his architectural practice with his TV work and how it all began.
What’s the difference between your work on Room to Improve and the work in your architectural practice?
I do the same thing, whether I’m in the office or working on Room to Improve, I sit at the same desk, I do the same drawings, it’s the same job, except that on Room to Improve the camera follows me around. For me the TV projects are simply another four or five projects added on to what I already do each year.
What did you do before you became a “TV architect”?
I was working for Moloney O’Beirne Architects in Co. Dublin. They are an excellent practice who do a lot of designs in the healthcare and education sectors. I loved it – I’ve always had an interest in the design of civic spaces – spaces that nurture people.
I was asked to fill in for Róisín Murphy on House Hunters and did one season of that. I was aghast at why people would move and pay €80k stamp duty for a house when they could use that money to improve the home they already had.
I was still holding down the job in the practice but it was becoming a bit more difficult. In 2008 I made the decision to leave despite being offered a bigger job. The clincher was that I’d give up the telly but I felt that the TV work was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
The day I handed in my notice the Lehman Brothers bank collapsed kicking off the global crash. In a strange way though it was probably a good thing setting up the business during a recession because it taught me to be frugal in business. The upside too was that people weren’t moving but rather were extending and renovating their existing houses.
What is the most important aspect of how you design?
We have worked on so many residential projects that at this stage we really know what people need. A lot of people get caught up in the aesthetics of architecture – and that is important – but the most important thing is how the house feels. What is the light quality like, what is the flow like, how do the spaces connect to each other, how does the family live in the space…?
Do you think your practice will grow much bigger?
We employ seven people at the moment and can’t really grow much bigger if I am to look over every project.
How important is teamwork to what you do?
Teamwork, collaboration and letting go of your ego are so important in an architectural practice. Buildings get infinitely better when they are questioned and tested and when you don’t let your ego take over – even the very act of having to prove why a design works is important. Sometimes, at the end of a design, I will flip things and do it in a completely different way just to prove that there is merit in the first design.
What do you like most about what you do?
If I solve a problem for somebody I get a huge amount of satisfaction out of it. It’s also a bit like being in a school play – you’re basically living with these people for a year and a half and then you don’t really see them again. I’m seeing people sometimes at their most vulnerable and we become friends. We keep in contact at Christmas or they might invite me to a significant birthday. I’m incredibly fond of all the people I’ve worked with over the years.
Is being a people-person an important attribute for an architect?
When you’re designing people’s homes every home, every person and every family is different. I need to be able to draw out of them what they really need.
A lot of people will talk about something that they’ve seen on social media, but, if I am to do a good job on their houses I have to be able to solve their needs. To do that I have to get to know them. I then basically become a method actor and put myself in their shoes. The only way I can do that is to listen to them and get people comfortable enough to be able to tell me things and for them to feel that I’m not judging them. People can sometimes think architects are judging them and they’re really not – they just want to fix the problem. If I’m invited around to someone’s house for a cup of tea or dinner I’m delighted. I’m not going around judging the place.
How do you balance the professional aspect of your role as architect with the public persona of being a TV personality?
On the TV show I’m an architect, I’m not a public figure. I don’t step into some kind of celebrity role, that would be dangerous. When I’m out and about and people recognise me and that’s different. Everyone just treats me like a local. I have never, ever been in a difficult or awkward situation. Everyone just wants to say hello and I’m just as interested in other people as they are in me.
To me each and every person is interesting and has a story to tell. They add a richness to my life and everyone I meet teaches me something along the way – whether I’m working with them or simply chatting to them in a queue.
I love when people say “Oh – I knew what you were thinking!” about a certain aspect of the show – it’s lovely that people get so invested in it that they know what I’m thinking.
What is a key challenge when it comes to redesigning people’s homes?
Instagram is giving people unrealistic ideas of what their homes should look like and it’s also a very sterile aesthetic – what does the place look like when the butter dish is left on the counter? Is the house still warm, welcoming and photographable when the stuff of life is scattered around? That’s what we should be aiming for.
The other thing is that most of us have too much stuff. Years ago things were so expensive – people thought about buying a lamp for six months before they bought it. Now it is so easy and affordable to buy things and even if something has been beautifully designed there is a cheap copy available. Next thing you know you’ve got 17 versions of the same thing. It’s like having a wardrobe full of clothes that you don’t wear – people have houses full of stuff that they don’t need but because they bought it they don’t want to throw it out. I used to be like that but now If I don’t want to have something for the rest of my life I don’t buy it.
Watch Room to Improve on Sundays at 9:30pm on RTÉ One or catch up on RTÉ Player.
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