RIAI | Irish Architecture Awards

Citation

Dublin (over €3,000,000)

While responding to commercial realities, this project is marked by intelligent planning, measured use of materials and concern for the communal as well as the individual. The elevational composition is complex, generated by plan, scale and function.

Architects Comment
The accommodation comprises 38 apartments, 6 retail units, 4 office units and a café. The building comprises three blocks of accommodation around a central tapering hall. The blocks are as follows: seven articulated three-storey brick elements with recessed attic-storey elements over a stone plinth onto Essex Street (each element containing two duplex apartments), a six storey render/timber and steel element onto an inner Courtyard (containing both single storey and duplex apartments facing south over courtyard level office units), and lastly a six storey plus roof garden brick/timber and steel block onto Fishamble Street (containing dual aspect apartments and a penthouse apartment over a café at street level). Horizontal access on each floor to the individual apartments is by open galllery within the five-storey central tapering hall. This hall has one large west facing window and a glass roof for light, sun and sky.

Compositionally the building is organised as a stone plinth along Essex Street supporting seven brick three-storey elements with timber and metal-clad attic storey. The stone plinth runs to four stories at the junction of Essex Street and Cow’s Lane. Fishamble Street comprises two brick elements– one supported on the plinth and the other separated by the building entrance and window to the central tapering five-storey hall. The taller brick element is curved in plan on the upper floors – the ground floor follows the existing back of pavement line. The curve articulates the existing Archway and the entrance to the Courtyard. Apartments are varied in size and type; single-storey one-bedroom south-facing, two-storey two-bedroom duplex with internal living room volume, two-storey penthouse duplex with west light, three bedroom south facing penthouse with terraces on two levels.

Client Comment
One of the main objectives of the Temple Bar Framework Plan was the regeneration of a residential population in Temple Bar, with a focus on "over the shop" apartment housing to create a living community. Centred on a new pedestrianised street, the Old City Development (of which Scarlet Row forms a part) represents the successful conclusion of the residential re-developments programme providing 191 apartments over 25 retail/media units, landscaped courtyards, and utilises and environmentally-friendly District Heating System.

Scarlet Row is an example of how conceptual thinking can provide a model for contemporary living in the heart of the medieval city. Of particular note is the creation of a tall, light filled space from which all 38 apartments are entered. The variety of apartment types achieved capitalises on the sloping site, the sun and the different street conditions. Commanding views of Christchurch and the Liffey, and featuring a south-facing courtyard, Scarlet Row’s unique pitched roof makes a dramatic statement and the extensive use of glazing creates a sense of light and space.

Tambra Dillon, General Manager