RIAI | Irish Architecture Awards

Citation

There were 23 entries for Best Public Building. The projects included New Civic Offices, continuing the roll-out of new county halls of which Cork is an outstanding example. The Jury noted the bravery of Brookfield Community Centre and the restraint of St. Paul’s Community Centre, Glenageary, where the contemporary complements the old.

Architect's Comments:

The three facades of the existing City Hall provide independent access to a variety of civic functions: a concert hall accessed through the north façade facing the River Lee, a Lecture Hall accessed from the east, and the Council Chamber entered from the west. Our proposal was to ‘reveal’ the fourth, ‘back-stage’ elevation as the new administrative entrance to the civic complex.

The project is structured around two dramatic spaces: a narrow Stair Hall, formed between the exposed ’fourth façade’ of the City Hall and the new building, and a top-lit Civic Hall.

The Civic Hall, conceived as a public room for Cork City, and generated from an existing diagonal public route across the site, is of a scale commensurate with the existing Concert Hall and St. Finbarr’s Cathedral.

The Stair Hall, separated from the public atrium at ground floor by an enfilade of glazed meeting rooms, contains the principal vertical circulation. This hall acts as the principal orientating space for staff.

The solid, ‘masonry’ element is conceived of as a carved volume, eroded in response to the adjacent City Hall and city edge condition. It fulfils the function of a ‘service block’, containing the principal support for both the existing City Hall and the glass volume.

The crystalline volume is designed for maximum flexibility and contains office space. It is linked to the service block by bridges for circulation, great ‘chimneys’ for ventilation, and deep fins to control light.

Client's Comments:

It had been apparent for many years that Cork City Council was urgently in need of a substantial and central new building, to consolidate its offices from a variety of disparate locations around the south of the City into the one City Hall ‘campus.’

The project began in earnest in 2003 when the City Manager instigated the procurement process by inviting expressions of interest for a Design Build and Finance contract for such a building, on a vacant site immediately next to the existing City Hall.

Along with the developer and design team, the architect won the tender with an imaginative, impressive and well considered proposal which clearly indicated in outline both the design and specification intent and in some areas went beyond the brief to further improve the
scheme.

The project has been extremely successful from Cork City Council’s point of view, in that whilst providing excellent accommodation for the staff the building also projects an inclusive, accessible and progressive image to our customers and the general public. The building has received numerous accolades which, given the method of procurement, can only be attributed to the imagination, assiduousness and tenacity of the design team led by the architect.

Staff are very happy with their new open plan offices. The environmental conditions have been frequently complimented by staff, particularly in the glass block office areas and the elegance and quality of the circulation areas at all levels are a delight.