Joseph Walsh is an internationally acclaimed furniture designer, maker and sculptor. His studio and workshop is located on his family farm, in a remote setting in County Cork, Ireland. From humble origins, the company’s campus has grown and developed into a diverse and sprawling cluster of agricultural buildings. As its needs have increased, the company has adapted and added to the buildings around it, but largely in an ad hoc manner with no clear overall vision.

IF_DO’s masterplan for the Joseph Walsh Studio site provided a flexible strategy for the campus’s growth from 2015-2025, creating a framework for development that would ensure that any new buildings were conceived as part of a larger whole, while ensuring that the masterplan could adapt depending on emerging needs. The masterplan included a range of spaces, including climate-controlled timber stores, new workshops, staff facilities, an archive and gallery building. It sought to streamline the process of production while maintaining the spirit of the place through a consistent architectural language and material palette. 

At the core of the site is a farmhouse cottage that was formerly the Walsh family home, and is now where the staff gather for their collective lunches. The first phase of the masterplan, the Courtyard Workshops, were planned to form a new courtyard around the farmhouse.

While the Courtyard Workshops were not built, the final phase of the masterplan was realised, with the conversion of a large warehouse to the south of the site to provide larger-scale fabrication and storage facilities.

IF_DO has recently been appointed by Joseph Walsh to commence a second stage of masterplanning (2021-2031), to look at a strategic vision for the site and surrounding properties.