RIAI | Irish Architecture Awards

Citation

Dublin, Over £100,000

This building is organised around an impressive straight-flight staircase which rises from the entry courtyard to an enclosed court at second-floor level, both connecting the various elements of accomodation and establishing increased zones of privacy, with the reception area and screening room at first-floor level and apartment and editing suite above. The front facade is a sophisticated, multi-layered composition of both clear and obscured glazing, screened by industrial glass planks, which provide a degree of privacy to the rooms behind and act as a rain-screen and windbreak to the staircase. On the rear facade, the cladding of the blank wall of the screening room in timber establishes a sympathetic relationship with the garden. Both internally and externally, the work is characterised by detailing of great finesse, enlivened by occasional reference to the tradition of cinema architecture.

Architects' Description
The site occupies a long, narrow mews slot to the rear of 13 Merrion Square, and the functions of the front and rear buildings are connected via the garden. The programme is to provide a purpose -built preview theatre or screening room, associated office and reception facilities, two apartments and car parking.

The scheme is organised by an external stairs, which cut a slot from the ground-floor forecourt to the raised second-floor courtyard. This allows light to be drawn into the depth of the long, narrow plan at the upper levels.

The front elevationis developed as an abstract screen, consisting of clear and sandblasted glass, glass planking, and stainless stell framing. The object of the screen is to provide privacy, ventilation and select views. Sliding glass screens  glide behind the planking to provide ventilation. The semi-industrial nature of the screen is intended to resonate with the light industrial and commercial uses on the lane. The elevation to the rear, by contrast, is clad in cedar boarding framed in stainless steel, developing a relationship with the garden.