Halden Road Library annex
A two-storey timber annex behind a listed 1906 library, adding a children's library, a quiet study room and the step-free entrance the old building never had.
Architecture studio · est. 2014
Common Purlin — Cork, Ireland
We draw sheds, schools and the occasional boathouse
Also libraries, kitchens and fourteen homes around one shared table. Common Purlin is a small studio that likes timber, tight budgets and clients who ask why the window is there. There is always an answer.
Taking on two new projects from spring 2027
- Buildings completed
- 41
- Avg. kWh/m² a year in use
- 31
- Architects and designers
- 9
Selected projects
Six buildings, from a back extension to a boathouse
Each project has its numbers next to it: floor area, measured energy use, time on site and cost per square metre. We publish them because clients ask, and because they keep us honest.
Brackenford Dairy: 18 maker studios in a 1930s dairy
A locally listed 1930s dairy converted into 18 affordable studios for makers, with a shared kiln room and a café, keeping 86 percent of the original structure.
Orchard Yard: cohousing for 14 households
Fourteen timber homes and a shared common house on a former plant nursery, designed with the residents over 22 workshops and certified to Passivhaus.
Lowther Street rear extension and retrofit
A side-return and rear extension to a narrow Victorian terrace house, with a whole-ground-floor retrofit that cut heating demand by two thirds.
Fernlea timber classroom pavilion
Two classrooms and a covered outdoor teaching space, prefabricated in timber cassettes and assembled over a seven-week summer holiday.
Millrace rowing club boathouse
A boathouse in a flood zone: a floodable ground floor storing 32 boats, with a clubroom and changing rooms lifted clear of the 1-in-100-year flood level.
About the studio
A small practice, on purpose
Common Purlin is nine architects and designers in one shared studio. We take on around eight projects at a time, so the people who draw your building are the people who answer your calls.
- 2014Practice founded by two partnersFirst project: a loft
- 2017First civic commissionHalden Road Library study
- 2020First timber school completedFernlea Primary School
Kind words
From the teams we built things with
04 notes · scroll →
They told us honestly that our first idea would not get planning, and then showed us a better one. The extension cost what they said it would, which still surprises our friends.
Dev RamanHomeowner, rear extensionAs a public client we need fixed fees and paperwork that survives an audit. We got both, plus a building the town is proud of.
Marguerite HolmCapital projects manager, district councilOur hall was a damp shell. They worked out which walls could stay, which could be repaired, and how to heat it for less than we spent on the old boiler.
Father Anselm PriceParish priest, St BrannocThe best site meetings I have been to. Clear drawings, quick answers and an architect who knew every detail because she drew it.
Gareth LyleContracts manager, timber builder
Services
From the first site visit to the last snag
Clear stages with fixed fees, so you know what each step costs before we start. Most clients begin with a feasibility study and decide from there.
Feasibility study
A measured look at your site, brief and budget before you commit. We test two or three options, check planning risks and give you a realistic cost range.
From $4,500
Full design service
Everything from concept design to completion: drawings, specifications, tendering, and fortnightly site inspections until the building is handed over.
10–13% of build
Planning and heritage
Planning and listed building applications, pre-application meetings, heritage statements and neighbour consultation for sensitive or protected sites.
From $6,800
Interiors and joinery
Kitchens, built-in joinery, lighting and finishes, designed alongside the architecture so the shelves, windows and light switches all line up.
From $85/m²
Have a site, a building or just a question?
Most of our projects start with a site visit and a cup of tea. Tell us what you have in mind, and we will tell you honestly what it might take.
Free first conversation · Fixed-fee feasibility studies