institutional
city
thesis
report
asylum tutors:hugh
campbell and john
michael doherty u.c.d 5th a r c h i t e c t u r e
parker
table
of contents
4 Introduction
5 site
analysis
8 Precedents 8aalto paimio 9grafton bocconi 10 f u j i m o t o childrens centre for psychiatr ic rehabilitation
12 T h e o r e t i c a l t h i n k i n g 12 i n s t i t u t i o n a l city 13 c o n c e p t 15 s c a l e 20 b i b l i o g r a p h y
contents
a s y l u m
Introduction
The National Children’s Hospital will be a large
institution in the city which is currently be-
ing planned for a site adjacent to the Mater Hospital,
between
Eccles
Street
and
Berkeley Road. A topical project, with many points of view being expressed with regards to the hospitals
accommodate day-care urgent
proposed 392
beds
care
siting,
it
inpatient
and
122,000
attendances
per
will
beds,
53
emergency/
year.
At
an
area of over 115,000m2, it will approximate-
ly be the size of Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. As
a
group,
we
have
the
opportunity
to
re-imagine the hospital typology in a way that a
practice, under the constraints of time, could
not. We began our investigation in three areas: - City within a city
- The room within a city
- Fantasy and imaginary cities and
dents,
we
from
studied the
a
18th
series
century
of
to
prece-
today.
During the course of the thesis, we had briefings with Paul de Freyne of the HSE and Sean Mahon of O’Connell Mahon Architects,
with regards to their approach to the National Children’s Hospital project, as well as Prof
Alan Dilani, an expert in healthcare design who is a founder and general director of the In-
ternational Academy for Design and Health.
introduction
a s y l u m Site The mater hospital, which is the current proposed
these institutions. The Mater Misericordiae
dense, six hectare urban site on Dublins north side,
works being much further advanced than
Road, Eccles Street and Dorset St. The site was
location between St James and Beaumont.
location for the national children’s hospital, is a quite
was the ultimate successor, due to ground
hemmed between the north circular road, Berkeley
that of St James as well as its geographical
selected in the Report of the Joint Health Service Executive/ Department of Health and Children Task
Group to advise on the optimum location of the new national paediatric hospital. The central tenet
in choosing an appropriate siting was that of co-
location with an existing hospital structure, to create a centre of excellence. The two hospitals that emerged as the most credible sites were that of St
James and The Mater Misericordiae, primarily due to the range of specialities already being offered in


a s y l u m
Urban connector. relation of site to the Royal Canal
From early on, my point of interest moved away
from the proposed site within the boundaries of the Mater Misericordiae hospital. The site is already rather dense, having recently received a
new adults hospital to its north side. Indeed it was
this hospital that caused the most concern with re-
gards to the new paediatric hospital, as the south lying site would leave this new wing almost perma-
nently in shadow. The current proposal certainly accomplishes this feat, as its 16 floors dwarf the 8
of the adult hospital lying due north. Coupled with this was the fact that the 16 floors of the proposed
structure is most probably the smallest volume accomplishable for the brief on that site. At 16 floors,
it promises to be the tallest building in Dublin, in
an area where 8 floors constitutes a landmark. Alternately, my focus shifted to the Mountjoy prison site which lies directly across the North Circular road to the north of the Mater Misericordiae.Per-
sonally speaking, three points of note appropriated
analysis
a s y l u m

this site. Firstly, the prison is already condemned,
being passed as inhumane for human occupation and consigned to relocation to Thornton Hall, a site outside the city boundaries which has already been
purchased by the government. Secondly, this soon to be free, Mountjoy site, offered a large portion of
prime urban space, much in contrast to the cluttered Mater Misericordiae condition. It comprises of 7.5 hectares of key urban land, pinned between
the north circular road and the Royal Canal. Lastly, this site grounds the theory for this thesis, as it constitutes a vast area of institutional city, a portion
that will need to be re-appropriated once the prison
has moved, a piece that, along with the Mater Misericordiae site, has proved an institutional block
within the city strata dating back to Victorian times.
Institutional City, the watch towers of Mountjoy prison loom

a s y l u m
Alvar Aalto Paimio An Institution Challenged
Aalto Paimio hospital for Tuberculosis championed a modernist ideal in medical architecture, sun, air
and views. There was no known cure for Tubercu-
losis in 1929, which resulted in the death of more than 100 people per week in Finland. . The schematic site plan with a kitchen/boiler block, a restaurant block and the ward block combined to frame
the entrance. The wards face south east and are
Parkland Setting
entered from a long gallery at the back. At the end of the block was an open decked solarium fac-
ing directly south. The Solarium allowed access to fresh air for bed ridden patients. it was struc-
turally adventurous, with the rear wall acting as a huge cantilever from a solid foundation so that the
south facing decks could be entirely column free. The primary point of interest was the attention to detail at the scale of the mass building, non-splash
sinks for each patient, designed l shaped windows with incorporated bench for each bed, retractable
South Facing Roof Solarium
door handles so as to prevent clothes catching on it, and metal handles on double swing doors
with wood inserts where the hand makes contact. Modern architecture could create humane and
comfortable spaces without resorting to motifs.
Attention to Detail, non-splash sink
precedent
a s y l u m Grafton Architects Bocconi Integration of a City into a City
A project of “the ground and sky”, the extension to
MIlans Bacconi University by Grafton architects is
the exemplar of how to incorporate a city within a city. Restricted by height of 22 meters and the param-
eters of a 160 x 80 meter site for a program of some 68,000 msq, the adopted solution was to go sub
stratum. The fear of creating dingy, poorly lit space
was counteracted by adopting the character of Milan itself, using the courtyard gardens, grand piaz-
zas and the stone floor as touchstone moments. The result is a true integration into the Milan urban morphology, through the creation of new public routes
underneath accommodation for 1000 professors.
Long Section through Voids
Plan
Under Croft space, stone floor
a s y l u m
Sou fujimoto Childrens Centre for Psychiatric Rehabilitation A Building through the Minds eye Situated in Hakkaide, Japan, this novel approach
to rehabilitation comprises of the “Loose” method of spatial arrangement. Loosely arranging the volumes for the complex program allows for the creation of the intimacy of a house as well as the variety of the city. The intent of the project is
solely focused around the child’s mind, the small, random alcove spaces between the regular boxes
creating plentiful hiding places, spaces which the child can feel alone, though still being supervised.
Social Space
Loose Layout, Spatial arrangement to create the fealing of series of houses
precedent
a s y l u m
a s y l u m
Institutional City “the existence of institution, the locus of voluntary or compulsory community life, is perennial in the
The term asylum immediately forwards the idea
(Mc Cullough, 1987,p99)
tion prompts a regressive vision, an overarch-
The reformation, coupled with the secularism
states desires. Institutions of all nature were ar-
specific range of institutions throughout Europe,
relationship between the authority and the client,
cluding our specific institutions of the jail and the
patient and the doctor. Many architectural endea-
transient inhabitant, temporarily or permanently
tion were based on theories of the enlightenment,
ligious devotion, re-appropriation or rehabilita-
beneficial effects of light and air on the patient in
cornerstone of centralised power and an impera-
the observer and the observed in the prison. The
history of organized societies”
of the institution. In turn the notion of the instituing power that moulds society in an image of the
it brought with it, heralded the arrival of a more
chitecturally arranged in a hierarchical order, a
encompassing all aspects of social structure, in-
between the guard and the inmate, between the
hospital. These social structures contained a
vours within the realm of healthcare and deten-
removed from society at large for education, re-
ranging from Florence Nightingales ideas of the
tion. They were at the forefront of modernity, a
the hospital to ideas of the relationship between
tive in the structuring of the new great cities.
institution architecturally expressed this relation-
“history has given them all a sullied image: le-
las and columns, and scale. These expressions
sick, the incapable and the imprisoned have left a
Hospital building and the gate house to Mountjoy.
gions of pale soldiers, seminarians, scholars, the legacy of alienation and mistrust which has found
expression in literature, song and folk history”
(Mc Cullough, 1987,p99)
Domineering Institution in the Irish Landscape, Portrane Asylum
Theoretical
thinking
ship through classical orders, pediments, cupocan be felt at the main entranced to the old Mater
a s y l u m
A Conceptual Basis My thesis supposes the reimagining of one institu-
tion and the reintegration of another within the city
fabric, through the theoretical lense of the prison.
The Institution that is Mountjoy prison
forms a predominant spatial and theoretical
driver in this thesis. Designed by Joshua Jebb in 1850, Mountjoy was based on the model prison
at Pentinville, London, also designed by Jebb. As was the case with the model prison, it was intended for men who were sentenced to transpor-
tation to Van Damiens Land. Originally designed
Pentonville model Prison, London
with 500 hundred identical cells, the prison was
spatially arranged for supervision , to set up a commanding relationship between the detainee
and the officer. This layout comprised of 4 radial wings, with a central hall at the intersection
“where the four wings met was an ample central hall commanding a sequence of panoramic views
down each of the succeeding galleries. Every door
to every cell could be seen from this one point”
(Evans, 1982, p349)
This was a relationship of control. Poignant glazed
Pentonville model Prison, observatory
“bays jutted out from the commissioner and
governor’s office into the central hall, allowing
them this all-encompassing view of the rest of the prison interior”
(Evans, 1982, p349)
Every prisoner came and left through this central
hall, the abiding memory. The windows were designed so as to be just high enough to make outward viewing almost impossible. Even if the con-
vict did manage to raise himself high enough to peer outwards, the view was severely distorted
by the by fluting in the glass, the form and content of the exterior world were obliterated.

a s y l u m
The theoretical imputes came In the reversal
of these values, an inverse prison. The central point
of supervision that orders the prison has been re-
placed by a point of play. The point of entrance and exit is recast as a social space. The entrapped world
of the prison is inverted into out looking world, look-
ing out to a series of undulation gardens that flow
in through the now shell prison block to the matt of the hospital. Instead of an internalised world, each
room shall have a small outside space, perhaps
turning the room into an outdoor hospital, at times. The ward is envisaged as a room, a room of rooms,
a playroom that opens up to the outside world, a
world a of courtyard parks, that looks out to the city.
Theoretical concept, the above ward model places a social space as the focal point in the plan, as opposed to the prison plan which radiates out from the observatory, point of authority
Theoretical
thinking
a s y l u m Three Scales of Operation
Asylum, as a group, set about tackling the
mass scale of the institution by working through
three scales, three congruent trains of thought. In this regard, the project can be broken down
to the scale of the room, the scale of the stand-
alone institution and the scale of the city. It is then recompiled to form a linked in piece of mass
infrastructure in to the fabric of inner city Dublin
The Scale of the City A City Within the City
The urban strategy in this thesis is the in-
version of the current realities. As is, the two institutions of Mountjoy Prison and the Mater hospital
form an urban blockage in Dublin’s city fabric. It is proposed that, contra to this reality, the site could
be used as an urban link, a infrastructural mass that binds the original Mater hospital, the New Paediatric Hospital, the reformed parkland prison site and
the royal canal as one piece of urban, public space. In this regard, the scope of the project stretches far beyond the scope of the Mountjoy site, and is seen in the context the city as a whole rather than a
segregated section, i.e., an inversion of the current.
Urban Strategy, the reintegration of the institutional space into the city fabric
a s y l u m
The scheme proposes to link into the Royal Ca nal Linear Park. This a recent competition win ning project which envisions the reconfiguration of the royal canal, a new urban street, with floating pavilions, parkland, running tracks, play spaces, bridge cafes and recreational facilities. I propose the Mountjoy site, which lies between the Mater Hospital and the canal, as being a natural exten sion to this proposed scheme, a break out space from the confines of the canal. In essence, an ex tended urban space of the original mater hospital, the new pediatric hospital and the royal canal com bine to form one mass stretch of public, integrat ed, deinstitutionalised city, a city within the city.
Fantasy City
a s y l u m

The Scale of the Institution
This thesis, an anti-thesis of Enlightenment
prison rationale, uses the institution in a metaphorical and actual sense. The Victorian Mountjoy prison, a landmark structure in the morphological evolution of Dublin city, is retained in accordance
with Rossian thought. It is envisioned as a deinstitutionalised, shelled out structure left as a historical
marker in the landscape, which now acts as a grand atrium space that mediates between the hospital
and the parkland behind it. The shell, winged struc-
ture forms a gathering device from the park into the central, external courtyard of the hospital. This
courtyard then proceeds past the entrance space, under the north circular road and on into the original Mater campus proper. It is proposed that this
campus is ridded of its outlying ephemeral structures to be replaced by a new public urban space
with some commercial activities. A stop for the proposed metro north line is seen as rising into this
space, activating it in unison with the project as a
whole. From the outset, I intended to intertwine the workings of the hospital with the public realm, con-
tra to the masked system of the modern hospital.
The plan form takes up the grain of the existing hospital campus and the prison which is aligned due south. Ordered around an external courtyard, the
outpatients department is situated to the east and
inpatients to the west. The idea for the hospital as a whole is that that each ward bank corresponds with
its associated specialties below, as the wards are
segregated by treatment. The structure orders the
space in section, whereby the wards are housed vertically above the treatment spaces and are accessed by the medical staff vertically at either
end of each unit. Public circulation rises through the centre of the unit, each of which is ordered
around the central public courtyard. Each unit can be viewed as an autonomous architectural piece.
scale
a s y l u m
Room within the City The room experience and space is fundamental to this thesis. The experience of the ward is where the inversion of the prison was realised in its most
competent from. From the genesis, the idea was to remove the authority figure from the central perspective of the child and replace it with a social,
play space. The nurses’ station is moved to the ward entrance, where a good all round visibility
is maintained without acting as the central focus
within the space. During the course of the 60s and 70s, the visual perspective from the nurses’ station,
in a bid to cut nursing numbers and cost, became
the primary ordering principal for the hospital form. In this machine ethos hospital era, where the patient was seen as an item that needed to be fixed
via the instrument of the hospital, multiple, internal
rooms and spaces pervaded, accompanied by the obligatory air conditioner and the planned location
of the nurses’ station. This thesis is a reaction to this type of medicine and a move to the Nightin-
gale school of thought, whereby copious amounts of natural light and ventilation play as important a role in the regeneration of health as that of medicine. In this light, each room is provided with an ex-
terior balcony space, which lets the room flow out to the exterior courtyards. Indeed, this is seen as
a room in itself, free to wander around, with a cen-
scale
tral social space and a recreation space to the end of the wing. The wards are constructed in a steal
frame structure, so as to keep the space free from load baring walls, allowing for flexible space that can be re-appropriated to differing uses, including
none healthcare functions. The central, south facing play space can open to the exterior, in tandem
with the main social/play space at the entrance to the ward. The roof is activated space, where various recreational, therapeutic, educational and re-
habilitative spaces provide a view back to the city
a s y l u m
a s y l u m
bibliography
Hertzberger, Herman. Articulations. Pres tel Publishing, 2002 evans, robin, the fabriction of virtue, cam bridge university press, 1982
O Donnell, S & Tuomey, J. O Donnell + Tuomey Selected Works. Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2007 nicholas, ray, alvar aalto, yale university press, 2005 McCullough, Niall, A lost tradition : the nature of architecture in Ireland, Dublin : Gandon Editions, 1987
Thesis
Preposal