Ignorance is Bliss - Individualism and Customisation: The Bungalow Boom in 1970-80s Rural Ireland

This dissertation examines the bungalow-building phenomenon that occurred in rural Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s following the publication of Jack Fitzsimons’s Bungalow Bliss. The first edition consisted of floor plans for bungalows but later editions included dormer bungalow and two storey plans. These sets of plans offered a new and affordable way to build houses in rural Ireland. The first publication was issued in 1971 and became very popular almost instantly. This dissertation examines how this new trend in building managed to change the face of rural Ireland and reflected a new social class of working people who were more self-aware and more affluent than those who had lived in the countryside in the past. The dissertation also looks at external influences, including the package holiday, on Irish architecture during the 1970s-80s and the influence American popular culture had on housing designs during the same period. Ultimately, this dissertation intends to show that the bungalow boom of the 1970s-80s represented the fulfilment of aspirations of freedom, individual expression and economic confidence in rural Ireland.