Selected Works 2008-2012

{for M.Arch II}

Content Chapter 1.

A Social Infrastructure / 2011 - 2012 Cooperative Market and Social Facilites, Dublin, Ireland

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Chapter 2.

Imitation vs Pattern: Proliferation of Architectural Memes / 2011 Research and Temporary Installation, Venice, Italy

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Chapter 3.

Defragmentation: Re-stitching Urban Fabric / 2010 Film Centre and Archive, Szczecin, Poland

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Chapter 4.

Building and Place: RIAI Traveling Scholarship Entry / 2009 Cookery School, Guest Houses and Farm, Monaghan, Ireland { Competition Entry - Shortlisted + Exhibited at the RIAI Dublin }

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Chapter 5.

Liminal Space / 2008 A Tower Housing Project, Ballitore, Co. Kildare, Ireland

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Selected Works

Chapter 1.

A Social Infrastructure / 2011 - 2012 A Cooperative Market and Social Facilites, Dublin, Ireland

My overriding desire has been to develop a language that is appropriate

first and foremost within the context of NAMA (National Asset Management Agency) - an architecture that embodies the ideals of a new future within Ireland. A shift from the selfish corruption of the past decade to a more open and democratic way of living. At the very least this project is intended to provoke thought about how we live and interact as a society. “This building reflects the worthy ideals of today: I saw it as spatialisation of democracy, in dignified spaces, without front doors - a temple where all activities are valid.� - Vilanova Artigas

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Selected Works Exploring characteristics of Brazilian modernism >

Cross-sectional development sketch

1:200 development model

For this project I employed a very specific method of work - the utilisation

and adaptation of precedent in order to create a unique piece of architecture. I attempted to understand and appropriate certain characteristics drawn from relevant architecture, challenge them with my own views, and ultimately create a synthesis between them.This Hegelian dialectic method of work has resulted in a radical democratic architecture.

As an antidote to the singular capitalist mentality of the past decade in Ireland, I proposed an egalitarian and socially transformative architecture. As a result, I began to draw parallels between the social agenda of architects like Vilanova Artigas, Lina Bo Bardi, and Paulo Mendes da Rocha, and what I was trying to achieve with my own project in Dublin. By studying their work I was able to develop a base set characteristics: strategic, tectonic, structural, and social. This became a type of form language which I could now draw upon and adapt to create a unique piece of architecture.

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Selected Works

Aerial view of site overlooking coastline

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he project is located on an elevated coastal site in north county Dublin between the towns of Portmarnock and Malahide. At forty eight meters above sea level, the site is dominated by spectacular views of the surrounding coastline - the urban fabric being a far less significant factor.The location of the project - on the threshold between two towns - served to heighten my interest in an expansive social architecture and fueled my desire to create a space where people would congregate.

The building’s relationship with the existing topography and the coastline heavily informed my approach to this project. The structure imbeds itself in between two headlands, becoming a bridge between the two communities. The building acts as a meeting place, a pubic park, and a podium upon which the public can take in the view.The rhythm of the structure becomes a series of bays in which market stalls are set up - each bay framing a unique view of the surrounding coastline.

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1:2000 coastal study model

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Selected Works

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Selected Works

Early on in the design of the project I chose to ignore the surrounding, chaotic urban fabric of the past decade and instead focus on the building’s relationship with the landscape, coastline, and the existing routes and field patterns. The building animates the landscape at a vast and heroic scale, yet is rooted in it’s coastal context.

The project takes the form of an inhabited viaduct, bridging a gap between two existing headlands. It adheres to a thesis of a unified volume housing multiple program under a single roof. In order for the project to successfully act as a meeting place for the two towns, it had to seem as open and egalitarian as possible. I strove to achieve this in a number of ways, most notably by composing the building with a strong sense of spatial continuity and generosity. Ramped circulation is seen as a bent floor plane, allowing seamless access to all areas of the building.

First floor plan

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Tectonically the building draws from the architecture of Sau Paulo, which in turn drew heavily from Corbusian brutalism. What I have tried to do is to simplify the architecture into load bearing elements and spaces, using raw, unrefined materials, and in so doing not sanctify the building in any way, thus enforcing the thesis of an egalitarian architecture.

In this respect I admire Bo Bardi’s attitude which she describes as an “experience of simplification”. This tectonic simplification of Bo Bardi’s work “expresses to a maximum degree its Communicative power and Dignity through the smallest and most humble means”. In my search for an appropriate tectonic, Bo Bardi’s “poor architecture” has been a strong influence in my own work.

First floor terrace and entrance to market >

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Selected Works

With the advent of the “Celtic Tiger� in 2001, reckless property specula-

tion became common practice. Hundreds of new housing estates were constructed all over the country lacking the proper amenities to serve their new residents. Programmatically this project is a response to that selfish ideology, attempting to subvert the singular capitalist mentality that has brought the country to it’s knees, and to foster a more egalitarian and collective approach to the built environment.

Essentially the project is a piece of social infrastructure designed to serve the adjacent towns of Portmarnock and Malahide by providing much needed facilities for the area. The massive monolithic structure houses everything from local sports facilities to a farmers market, yet it is designed in such a way as to accommodate the likely transient nature of the program.

By allowing for programmatic change the building can continue to serve as a piece of infrastructure for a longer period of time than otherwise possible.

Cross section

Ground floor plan

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Main indoor market hall >

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Selected Works Longitudinal section (part)

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Selected Works

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Selected Works

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Selected Works

Chapter 2.

Imitation vs Pattern: Proliferation of Architectural Memes / 2011 Research and Temporary Installation, Venice, Italy

I began my fifth and final year studying at the Dublin Institute of Technology

by posing the question; as architects, what is the origin of the forms we design?

To answer this question I looked outside the discipline of architecture to biology, investigating the processes by which certain species are able to not only survive, but thrive. I postulated that the process of natural selection that Charles Darwin discovered so many years ago, may indeed play an integral role in the proliferation of the architectural forms which we experience on a day to day basis.

Driven by my rather equivocal attitude towards form, my thesis initially explored the controversial theory of memetics (not to be confused with mimetics) and applied it to the architectural world. I became fascinated about understanding the processes of design rather than design itself, and how a better understanding these processes may lead to more informed design choices.

Taking the success of modernism as an example, I highlight how a particular “style” of architecture can rapidly spread like a virus due it’s low informational nature. I argue that contemporary architecture is too often a game of reference, and too seldom a game of invention - architects and designers developing a series of go to phrases of form, imposed again and again upon the built environment regardless of context or program.

The research culminates in a temporary installation in Venice, where as an antidote to the referential architecture so prevalent in today’s society, I proposed to observe the people in their interaction with the environment and determine specific patterns which could inform a useful intervention.

By choosing to ignore the architecture and instead observe identifiable patterns in people’s behavior, I was able to create a sensitive and innovative response that validated my design methodology.

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Selected Works

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Selected Works

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Selected Works

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Selected Works

Chapter 3.

Defragmentation: Re-stitching Urban Fabric / 2010 A Film Centre and Archive, Szczecin, Poland

“W

hile modern architects and town planners already started breaking open the city before the Second World War, the demolition work was continued by the war; later on the traffic mania dealt this fragmentation the ‘coupe de grace’ wherever it could.” - Herman Hertzberger This infill project, located right at the birthplace of Szczecin, is part of larger masterplan conducted by the Dublin Institute of Technology to redevelop and repair the city’s post-war urban fabric. The centre is designed as a cultural hub, but also has larger urban implications - acting as a new pedestrian route through the city.

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Selected Works

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he building consists of three distinct volumes. The first is a kinked-linear element on ground level which acts as an extension of the street, becoming a cultural route-way through a city block.

It contains seating areas, a ticket/information booth, and a cafe bar which opens out onto the street. This linear volume also defines two new squares; a private cultural courtyard, shared between the existing theater and the new film centre, and a public terrace opening out onto the new thoroughfare. The second volume is a rectangular form on first and second floor levels. This volume houses the center’s archives and one of the two cinema screens. It has a strong presence from the main street, emerging at an angle creating a welcoming entrance. The third volume is located on the opposite side of the city block, and contains the second cinema screen. This volume is more restrained in it’s placement and is designed to restich the broken, post-war urban fabric. It creates a strong visual link in it’s materiality with the new Philharmonic which reinforces the idea of the cultural route through the city.

The facade is constructed of a clear white polycarbonate which is opaque during the day, allowing inhabitants inside the building to observe the shifting sunlight and shadows. At night the facade is lit from within and the building becomes a cultural beacon.

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Selected Works

Ground floor plan 34 Dublin Institute of Technology

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Placement of concrete structure 2008 - 2012 35

Selected Works Cultural courtyard (polycarbonate facade removed) >

Second floor plan 36 Dublin Institute of Technology

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Selected Works

Chapter 4.

Building and Place: RIAI Traveling Scholarship Entry / 2009 A Cookery School, Guest Houses and Farm, Ireland { Competition Entry - Shortlisted + Exhibited at the RIAI Dublin }

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he project is conceived as a microcosm of rural living in Ireland. Using the existing field pattern as a starting point, I took each field and turned it into a miniature working farm. The six fields were then each given a new farm house which would act as the guest houses for the students of the cookery school.The “farms” then required a “town centre” or a meeting point where the students could gather and socilaise.

Formally the town centre is created by a single concept: a tough exterior outer shell or skin and softer timber insertions within. The rough aggregate concrete outer skin responds directly to the site conditions such as the to-

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pography, prevailing winds, and sunlight, creating it’s own microclimate. The softer timber boxes then respond directly to the building program and the occupants needs within the context of the outer skin.

The town centre is created by using a long spine wall which flows from the entrance point of the site to the exit, twisting and turning along the way creating a series of different spaces. The main market square is the farm’s link to the surrounding communities. It provides a space where not only the students but also the local farmers and community can come to engage in weekly farmers markets.

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Selected Works

Conceptually the project is derived directly from the landscape.The strong

existing field pattern is the starting point for the whole design process. Each one of the six existing fields becomes a miniature farm, developing the idea of a microcosm. The scheme attempts to look at modern rural living in Ireland today and recreate that within the confines of the thirty five acre site.

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Selected Works

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6. Student bedroom 7. Student bedroom 8. Bathroom

Second floor plan

4. Bathroom 5. Student bedroom 6. Student bedroom 7. Student bedroom 8. Bathroom

First floor plan

1. Entrance 2. Office 3. Toilets 4. Store 5. Kitchen 6. Kitchen 7. Kitchen 8. Toilets 9. Dinning room

Ground floor plan 42 Dublin Institute of Technology

Cookery school and dormitories

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2. Study

Second floor plan

2. Living 4. Master bedroom

First floor plan

1. Kitchen + Dinning 2. Utility + Bathroom 3. Bedroom 4. Bedroom 5. Bedroom

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House for a family of five

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Chapter 5.

Liminal Space / 2008 A Tower Housing Project, Ballitore, Co. Kildare, Ireland

Initially designed as a single object within the landscape, this 8x8 meter

tower house was created as an artists home and studio. A large void running from the roof, through all three floors, allows light into the building, while smaller openings cut in the elevations allow for views out over the Irish countryside. Drawing from vernacular Irish tower houses, the circulation for the building is kept within the thickness of the concrete walls.

The question then became about how this particular solution could be adapted to function as part of a larger housing project. What if a series of these houses were placed together to create a community - how would the design change? My response to this question manifested itself as an urban to rural transition - a liminal space where the density of the housing slowly decreased into the landscape.

1:25 layered foam model

Entrance and living space

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Private bedroom floor

Studio

Roof garden

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Selected Works Aerial view of housing project >

Part sections through housing project 48 Dublin Institute of Technology

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