Aidan Regan: Could a ‘duplex maisonette’ design help to solve the capital’s housing crisis?

An innovative design based on Victorian row houses could deliver better quality, cheaper, high density and low rise housing than high-rise apartment blocks

An artists’ impressions of the high-density, low-rise, three-storey duplex maisonette housing proposed by Shay Cleary Architects. The design takes inspiration from the Victorian houses that are prevalent across the wealthiest (and ridiculously unaffordable) parts of Dublin’s inner-city suburbs. Picture: Shay Clear Architects

One of the first things people notice when they travel to a new city is the type of architecture and residential housing that prevails. When people come to Dublin, they immediately notice the Victorian and Georgian buildings around the city centre.

If they travel a little further, to the Liberties or Stoneybatter, for example, they’ll notice lines of terraced red brick housing that were built at the end of the 19th century. And if they ...