RIAI | Irish Architecture Awards

Citation

Breathtakingly conceived, detailed and executed, this group of buildings is a superb addition to the continuation of the development of the Institute. The sense of space created internally and externally will be enjoyed for generations of students and staff. The acheivement of this quality of environment on this campus is remarkable. The buildings and their outside spaces will look as fresh and beautiful in one hundred years as they do now.

Architect’s Comments:

The Tourism and Hospitality Building has two entrances, which set thoughts about the brief (academic and hotel training) into the plan. The first entrance is from the circle through a small arcade entering into a double height top-lit hall with fireplace. The second entrance is from the east to a long corridor with academic departments, classrooms, lecture theatres and kitchens reached from the triangular lawn outside the circle. The bar, white dining room and dining hall, and Head of Department open off the first hall. -A minor axis with housekeeping and reception training runs east west, parallel to the long corridor through the first hall. Demonstration kitchen, class kitchen chimneys, dining hall and large lecture theatre volumes are employed externally to articulate the hierarchy of the plan. A class kitchen accommodates 16 student work places, which are serviced with water, gas, electricity at low level from the wall and at high level with supply air and exhaust to the brick chimneys The Administration Building along with the Tourism and Hospitality Building are located on the higher ground - a rock outcrop that is a phenomenon of the local karst limestone. This higher ground (1.5 m) forms a ramped and stepped approach to the Administration Building’s ground floor reception desks, the circle, and the east entrance of the Tourism and Hospitality Building. The higher ground is the inspiration for the south facing rotational steps and ramps to the rest of the campus. The grass lawn is displaced off centre to vary the width of the steps. The North and South facade designs reflect concern with orientation and natural ventilation. The Student Centre is the favoured of the three buildings because of its haphazard brief (maybe funded or not funded, connection to existing buildings and rich mixture of functions, bars, student union, art gallery, common room, book shop). The virtual absence of expression throughout the three buildings with plain brick walls, arcades and major openings hint at some function and suggest well being.

Client's Comments:

One of Cork Institute of Technology's strategic objectives is to improve its built environment to better reflect its long traditions as well as its modern interpretation of third and fourth level technological education. With the development of a new main entrance on the north of its Bishopstown Campus of signature buildings which stimulate, challenge and inspire students, staff and alumni; this strategic objective has been richly fulfilled. The enduring design paradigm of academic life swirling around a campus green is superbly captured in the architecture and building relationships, with three buildings - one academic, one administrative and one student services - united by a timeless green circular courtyard of classic dimensions. Internal and external spaces became equally important in creating a stimulating and sympathetic campus environment. Staff, students and graduates have been universal in their praise of the scale and design of these buildings, their public spaces and working environments. The Institute is proud to possess buildings which will mature with age and which are strong, positive and inspiring manifestations of its role and status.