AAI Site Visit: Grangegorman - O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects

AAI Site Visit: Grangegorman - O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects in support of EASA Ireland
Cover Photo by Aisling McCoy

Meeting Point :

Photo by Aisling McCoy

Project Description:

The Academic Hub is the landmark building at the heart of Technological University Dublin’s Grangegorman Campus. It is a cluster of buildings arranged around external courts. At the centre is the protected North House, within the old St Brendan’s hospital.

It includes a lively ground floor with student services, a café, exhibition space and Learning Commons. On the upper levels is the new Academic Hub for the Campus. It is envisaged as a light-filled lantern providing views across the city landscape, the building is a showcase for learning, research and academic activities. These fundamental principles informed the design of the scheme.

The starting point of the approach to the Academic Hub is the existing North House. The North House may have a single name, but it is in fact a pair of buildings, of varying heights. It consists of the North House West; a three-storey building, with a central spine wall, the North House East; a two-storey frame building with the potential for large open plan spaces and a central stair and water tower that is taller than both buildings.

The Academic Hub is created by a cluster of buildings integrated with the existing, rather than creating a single large building that would envelop and consume the North House. The cluster of buildings results in a series of landscaped courtyards and pocket spaces between the old and new buildings.

The Academic Hub will draw and invite people in by blurring the edges between the inside and outside. The entry level is set out like a market, with the library floating above, an urban crossroads to enhance different forms of exchange and communication between people.

The Academic Hub is to be an integral part of the overall workings of the Grangegorman campus and forms a central point in the overall scheme. It connects back to other academic facilities and departments in a variety of ways.

Ground Floor Plan

CLIENT:

Grangegorman Development Authority on behalf of TU Dublin

DESIGN TEAM:

Architects:

Services Engineers: Max Fordham

Structural Engineers: Horgan Lynch

Quantity Surveyor: Duke McCaffery

Fire Consultant: Michael Slattery

Employer Representative: Nyland Consulting

Contractor: OHLA / Townlink

Conservation: Paul Arnold

Assigned Certifier: Catalyst

First Floor Plan

Architects' Statement:

O’Donnell + Tuomey is a studio-based architectural practice, with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland and London, UK. Committed to the craft and culture of architecture, they have worked on numerous urban design, cultural, social and educational projects and have a reputation for engagement with complex urban situations and sensitive landscapes. They have completed schools and universities, theatres and cinemas, community centres and social housing, art galleries and libraries in Ireland, the UK and Europe. They have exhibited six times at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Winners of more than 120 awards, RIBA Royal Gold Medal, and RIAI Gold Medal recipients, their completed buildings include The Glucksman, Cork; Irish Language Cultural Centre, Derry; Lyric Theatre, Belfast; V&A East Museum and Sadler’s Wells Dance Theatre, London; Liverpool University School of Architecture; London School of Economics Student Centre; Central European University, Budapest, University College Cork Student Centre and The Hedge Theatre, Stone Vessel and Passage House at Fartha, County Cork, Ireland.

Photo by Aisling McCoy

Photo by Peter Molloy

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