TABLE OF CONTENTS
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RENEWAL & EVOLUTION Ruairí Quinn TD Minister of Education and Skills 8
FOREWORD Prof. Brian Norton President, Dublin Institute of Technology 10
PROJECT BACKGROUND Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners 14
HISTORY OF THE SITE Terry Prendergast Senior Planner, Grangegorman Development Agency 16
HISTORY OF HEALTH CARE AT GRANGEGORMAN Anne O’Connor Health Service Executive Area Manager for Dublin North City 18
MY EXPERIENCE IN GRANGEGORMAN OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS Dick Bennett Former Director of Nursing, St. Brendan’s Psychiatric Hospital 22
CONSOLIDATION OF DIT AT GRANGEGORMAN Noel O’Connor Director of Student Services, Dublin Institute of Technology
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MASTERPLAN DESIGN PROCESS
HEALTH CARE CAMPUS
Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners
Bryan Lawson Professor Emeritus of Architecture, University of Sheffield, UK
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MASTERPLAN & ARCHITECTURAL VISION James Mary O’Connor Principal-in-Charge, Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners 74
CONSERVATION: NEW USES FOR PROTECTED STRUCTURES Gráinne Shaffrey Director, Shaffrey Associates Architects 78
PUBLIC REALM & LANDSCAPE DESIGN Jan Wehberg Director, Lützow 7 Landscape Architects GmbH 84
SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY Paul Dunne Director, Arup Consulting Engineers 90
INTERVIEW: FROM MASTERPLAN TO MASTERPIECE Charlie Taylor Journalist, Communications Consultant 94
DIT CAMPUS: BUILDING COMMUNITY Paul Horan Head of Campus Planning, Dublin Institute of Technology
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PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION Michael G. Hand Chief Executive Officer, Grangegorman Development Agency 102
COMMUNITY/STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION & PLANNING/SDZ PROCESS Ronan Doyle Communications Officer, Grangegorman Development Agency Terry Prendergast Senior Planner, Grangegorman Development Agency 110
THE CHALLENGE OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CAMPUS John Ruble Partner, Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners 118
ARCHITECTURAL CRITIQUE Alan Mee Architect, Urban Designer, Lecturer
RENEWAL & EVOLUTION Ruairí Quinn TD Minister for Education and Skills
The Grangegorman project is both exciting and unique—not only in Ireland but also in Europe. The development of this 73-acre site in the heart of a European capital city, with public services and amenities at its core, is the most significant development for this city in our generation. Indeed, in terms of regenerating and reinvigorating the whole northwest inner city, its impact can be compared to the transformation brought about by the Georgians in eighteenth century Dublin. This magnificent site in the centre of Dublin has been associated with health care and public service for centuries. In 1816, the Grangegorman Clock Tower Building, designed by architect Francis Johnston, opened as the Richmond General Penitentiary. Despite a forbidding exterior, its mission of reform rather than punishment was ground-breaking for the society of the time. In the years since independence, Ireland has changed and the City of Dublin has evolved. The centre of gravity in the life of any city is constantly shifting, sometimes neglecting neighbourhoods as development moves to other areas. If we are to preserve the integrity of this historic planned city, it is our responsibility not only to conserve its important architecture but also to ensure the constant renewal of its districts and neighbourhoods, and especially those at the heart of the city. Grangegorman is such a neighbourhood, and it is once again the site of ground-breaking social development. A new urban quarter is emerging, with education and health at its core. The new campus for Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) The Richmond Penitentiary (Clock Tower Building), 1814 4
will be a centre of learning, performance, innovation and enterprise. Established over 130 years ago, DIT is an educational landmark in Dublin City. Continuing to meet the
needs of society, the demands of the economy, and the changes in technology, it is now preparing to become one of Ireland’s first technological universities. The new multidisciplinary campus at Grangegorman will enable DIT to consolidate its wide-ranging activities in one location and will facilitate its large community of students, academics and researchers in their engagement with civic society, with industry, and with partners in academia in Ireland and internationally. The large site of 30 hectares (73 acres) is formerly used by St. Brendan’s Psychiatric Hospital, located north of Dublin’s historic city center
In addition to higher education, the recent development by the Health Service Executive of the beautiful and thoughtfully designed Phoenix Care Centre has ensured that Grangegorman now sets a new standard for the gentle care of mental health in Ireland. The original Victorian laundry building on the site is being restored, re-designed, and will re-emerge as a new primary health care centre for the Dublin 7 community. A local primary school, D7 Educate Together, will also find its permanent home on the site, and there are plans to incorporate other strands of education and rehabilitation. The planning of this new campus underpins the role of higher education in society, not only by addressing today’s needs but also by incorporating a clear vision for the future. It will become part of the fabric of Dublin City, completing a circle of cultural institutions within the inner ring between the Royal and Grand Canals and the North and South Circular Roads that were first developed in the 1700s. In common with much of the development of the eighteenth century city undertaken by the Wide Streets Commission, this significant project will be achieved through a combination of state funding, philanthropy and the investment of public-private partnerships. As we approach the centenary of 1916 and of the foundation of the State in 1921, I believe this major development reflects not only our achievements as a society but also our ambition for the next one hundred years. As Minister for Education and Skills, who also happens to be an architect, I welcome the role it will play in the education and well-being of future generations, and I salute the contribu-
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tion it will make to our built environment and the enhancement of Dublin City.
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Overall view of the Masterplan from the south. The Grangegorman Urban Quarter creates inviting spaces for the community while maintaining connections to the site’s past and linking together areas of the city.
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MASTERPLAN DESIGN PROCESS The process for the appointment of the Grangegorman Masterplan Design Team started in 2007 with a three-stage international design competition organised by the GDA, to select a team to prepare a masterplan for the development of the Grangegorman health and education campus. During the selection process the five short-listed teams were requested to prepare indicative design solutions for the site. After a review and deliberation process, the decision was made to award the project design to the Team led by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners (MRY) based in Santa Monica, California, USA.
Design workshop at the offices of DMOD Architects, Dublin, during the competition phase, 2007
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Moore Ruble Yudell’s process in the international design competition began with assembling a carefully chosen international Team of consultants and collaborators, each a leader in their respective discipline. The competition phase provided MRY’s Planning Team with an excellent opportunity to establish creative relationships and lines of communication that have effectively served the project through the ensuing phases of Masterplan development and implementation. The MRY Team’s analysis of the Grangegorman site proceeded on several levels simultaneously. We studied a range of urban and environmental issues, from climate conditions to geography to urban infrastructure and contextual constraints and opportunities. We surveyed and carefully evaluated the condition of the
neighbourhood’s stock of historic structures, and prepared several masterplanning options with the goal of making the best use of the historic site in harmony with the requirements of the stakeholders community, while integrating the new campus into the existing urban fabric of Dublin.
Key Masterplan Principle—St. Brendan’s Way and Serpentine Walk
Early conceptual sketch during the competition phase, 2007
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On confirmation of the appointment of the MRY Team as Masterplanners for the Grangegorman site in early 2008, the GDA together with the masterplanning team entered into a public consultation phase and engaged with the community and stakeholders up until October of that year when the detailed masterplan was formally agreed upon. A series of highly participatory community workshops allowed the Design Team to understand both the quantitative and the qualitative potential within the programme and to be responsive to the many dimensions of the project needs. Throughout Stage 1 (Masterplan Design), the MRY Team consulted widely with all stakeholders. At the end of this open process, the result is a well-vetted and substantiated masterplan, with a high level of consensus, support and approval among the many stakeholders from DIT, HSE and the wider community. The evolution and completion of the masterplan has incorporated the further development of the guiding design principles and concepts initially formed during the competition. Early on, key design principles specific to the project goals were developed to address major issues such as creating gateways, major nodes of activity and social gathering, pedestrian circulation and public realm, landscaped “finger parks,” historical preservation,
The grand stairs at Library Terrace creates a vibrant focus for campus and community life, providing south-facing places to sit, study, meet friends and watch the sporting events on the Fields.
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Athletic Court Sports with Student Residential Housing Above
Upper Square
Elevation of the Serpentine Walk with DIT Library and Student Housing
HSE Primary Care
HSE Garden
North-south section of the site showing the Top House, DIT Library and Fields, looking east
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HSE Nursing Home with Primary Care Above
Central Library
Swimming Pool with Student Residential Housing Above
Upper Terrace
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Student Residential Housing
Retail with Student Residential Housing Above
The Fields
PUBLIC REALM & LANDSCAPE DESIGN Jan Wehberg Director, Lützow 7 Landscape Architects GmbH
The Public Realm and Landscape Design of the Grangegorman Masterplan responds to the site´s rich historical context as well as to his significant morphological and topographical aspects. One major goal was to preserve the protected structures and where possible the unique characteristics of the existing vegetation. It was also important to interweave the new fabric of the quarter with the green character of the site, and to strengthen the connection between the existing urban fabric and the new quarter. Innovative Public Realm The design of the hard and soft landscape elements creates a vibrant, innovative public realm for both DIT and HSE, enhancing the identity and image of the new Ger Casey (GDA), Halil Dolan (Moore Ruble Yudell) and Tim Hagenhoff (Lützow 7)
urban quarter by considering all aspects relating to biodiversity, and optimising the usability and beauty of the open spaces. The new Grangegorman Quarter is characterised by the interaction of small and large open spaces (Student Hub, Library Terrace, Library Square), the major east-west connection defined by a formal “urban path” promenade (St. Brendan´s Way), a more informal “landscaped path” (Serpentine Walk), as well as several green belts (Green Landscape Fingers), pedestrian circulation axes, and a cohesive fabric of building clusters (the Quads). Interwoven within these areas are an array of landscape design features and furniture elements, combined with a thoughtful hierarchy of paving materials as well as a rich and abundant planting concept—all contributing to form a series of unique and interwoven public spaces with a distinct sense of place. Hardscape Pavement Concept The hardscape pavement element plays a very important role for this project, establishing a distinct identity for the site. The main open spaces—the Student Hub, Library Terrace and Library Square along with St. Brendan’s Way—form the public realm nucleus of the Quarter, and are unified by similar paving treatment in the ground plane in order to tie the entire site together. These areas are designed to provide a shared surface for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, achieved by removing
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all road markings such as kerbs and directional bollards. The spaces are further
Landscape site plan prepared during Stage 2 Public Realm & Infrastructure Detailed Design
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defined by large-scaled edging elements incorporating seating benches, or by trees and planting areas. A second east-west connection, the Serpentine Walk, is intended only for pedestrians and has a less urban, more vegetated character than St. Brendan’s Way. Here a strong visual and sequential connection to the Fields is created, reinforced with expansive views from the sunny, south- and west-facing terraces of the Serpentine Walk—to the Church of Ireland in the foreground, and the City with Phoenix Park and Dublin Mountains on the horizon. The important north-south connection from the North Circular Road entrance to the site’s core and the Fields is strengthened by two plazas, Library Terrace and Library Square. The pavement treatment of these areas is uniform in material, directionality, and character to St. Brendan’s Way, but having a variation with a larger paving format. The Library Terrace as the central plaza provides space for events and large public gatherings. It is situated to provide direct access and views to the Fields and Dublin Mountains. The adjacent grand stairs serve as a meeting place with informal seating overlooking the sport pitches and playgrounds of the Fields. Planting Concept Similar to the design of the pavement, the planting concept gives a distinct identity to the project. The primary routes across the Quarter are mainly defined with avenues of one plant species—for example, Fastigiated Hornbeam along the main pedestrian route, St. Brendan’s Way, and Crab Apple along the Serpentine Walk. The old Grangegorman site was characterised by its existing Holm Oaks. This feature is strengthened with new rows of Holm Oaks along the site boundary, layered by some Pin Oaks arranged in open rows along the northern and eastern borders. At the site openings the oak theme is interrupted by flowering Cherries which attract attention twice a year with their spring blossoms and autumn colours, Planting concept for the primary gateway on Grangegorman Lower Road 16
helping to enhance orientation for users and visitors. In contrast to the stricter, classical use of trees, the informal concept of the Green Fingers is characterised by different tree themes and informally
The Masterplan merges historic architecture with a contemporary identity. The future DIT Student Services hub on St. Brendan’s Way will be framed by the Female House (centre) with the Male and Female Infirmaries and the Roman Catholic Church (left), while the Clock Tower Building (bottom) provides a focal point of orientation for the Cultural Garden.
HEALTH CARE CAMPUS Bryan Lawson Professor Emeritus of Architecture, University of Sheffield, UK
1 Lawson, B. R. (2004). "Assessing benefits in the health sector." Designing Better Buildings. S. Macmillan. London, Spon Press: 100-106. 2 Nightingale, F. (1860). Notes on Nursing. London, Harrison and Sons.
3 Lawson, B. R. (2010). “Healing architecture.� The Society for Arts in Healthcare Journal 2 (2): 95-108.
One of our key design principles for the HSE facilities was to create a public domain seamlessly linking the health care, educational, residential, commercial and recreational facilities on the site as a whole. Life is lived as an integrated totality, not as a series of functionalist episodes. Another of our key design principles was to achieve some sense of continuity across time so that long-term residents or users of the area would perceive meaningful connections with the past. This idea proved difficult to execute, as previous health care uses of the site were not always ones to be celebrated. Inevitably, most of the original health care estate on the site simply had to be cleared away. Of all the building typologies on the new Grangegorman site, perhaps none have developed so rapidly as health care which remains in flux as ideas about key functions, processes and procedures change.1 Thoughts worldwide on health care design have never been under more scrutiny than today. The hospital ward, for example, has changed with attitudes to the models of care. Supervision was once the dominating theme, perhaps most famously expressed by Florence Nightingale. For her the overriding principle was that patients were there to be treated and the nursing staff needed to be able supervise this process efficiently and effectively. The Nightingale Ward, named after her and which dominated design View of the site from the north, with the HSE entrance along North Circular Road in the foreground. One of the Key Principles of the Masterplan is the need for a strong connection from the site to North Circular Road.
for a century, arranged patients so that they could all be seen from the nurse workstation. Anyone in distress or need would be seen and attended to. Supervision of patients as the dominating idea in design has been superseded first by privacy and more recently by dignity. Florence Nightingale also first began to develop the principles we have tried to follow at Grangegorman. She observed in her time during the Crimean War how some patients seemed to make more progress than others and began assiduously to collect data.2 Today we design from an evidence base.3 There is now worldwide a huge bank of research providing scientific knowledge showing the substantial extent to which the design of the health care environment can impact on health outcomes. At the University of Sheffield that database has been compiled for the UK National Health Service and more importantly has been analysed, categorised and summarised
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in forms that make it accessible for design .4 This analysis has given rise to some eight
Lawson, B. R. (2007). "Design indicators." UK Healthcare Design Review. D. Stark. Glasgow, Keppie Design: 88-95. 5 Hertzberger, H. (1991). Lessons for Students in Architecture. Rotterdam, Uitgeverij 010.
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key principles that embrace the vast majority of the evidence. Of these four in particular were found to be important at the urban scale in Grangegorman and dominated our thinking. They are “Privacy, Company and Dignity,” “Views,” “Legibility of Place,” and “Nature and Outdoors.” Great care was taken to distribute the various HSE buildings so that privacy and seclusion increased along an axis going west. This enabled us to locate the more sensitive buildings such as mental health at the west end of this axis with protected outdoor spaces and windows not normally overlooked by passers-by. Those patients who are able to can move progressively east finding themselves in spaces where social interaction is likely to increase. This enables the buildings and spaces themselves to become part of the therapy and treatment. The generally shallow plan footprints of all the health care buildings promote Protected gardens at the new Phoenix Care Centre
a form of design that should give good contact with the outdoors and plenty of views out of buildings. It is sometimes assumed that the only good views are those of nature but while these are evidentially therapeutic, often views of life going on may be more important. As a general rule the evidence suggests longer-term building occupants, especially those who may be to some extent disabled, may value views of people going about their daily lives. The sheltered housing for older people is deliberately placed further east along our axis and can afford views and short walks to places where children may be playing. The great Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger showed how to position older peoples’ homes with views over playgrounds ,5 and we follow that principle. The pattern of circulation adopted throughout the Grangegorman site has been continued across the health care campus. This means that the carefully devised arrangement of key vistas is particularly relevant here. The major views along the routes running across the health care campus point directly to key landscape features and important buildings of Dublin. The combination of this and the east-west axis creates a clearly legible and understandable environment, of course entirely and necessarily
View of Library Square and HSE primary care facility. Library Square provides a public space that activates a central portion of the site bringing people together from the HSE buildings, DIT and the public library.
new, and yet linked to the city known to the local inhabitants. Specific problems such as the sheltered gardens and constrained routes for those with dementia are also included for the benefit of our more disadvantaged longer-term residents.
BIOGRAPHIES Ruairí Quinn TD Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn TD was appointed Minister for Education and Skills in March 2011. He has been a public representative since 1974 and a TD representing the people of Dublin South-East since 1977. As Minister for Education and Skills, reform, jobs and fairness are at the heart of his agenda. Minister Quinn is passionate about delivering high-quality education to our growing population in a fair and equitable way. Ruairí Quinn has broad political experience, having served as a Minister in six different Departments, including as Minister for Finance from 1993-1997. From his time in government to serving as Leader of the Labour Party between 1997 and 2002, his depth of experience and political acumen is extensive. His political memoir, Straight Left— A Journey in Politics, was published in 2005. Before entering public life, Ruairí Quinn was an architect and town planner. He is married to Liz Allman. He has two sons and a daughter.
Prof. Brian Norton President, Dublin Institute of Technology Professor Brian Norton is President of DIT, one of Ireland’s largest institutions of higher education. Originally qualified as a physicist at University of Nottingham, Professor Norton holds doctorates in Engineering from Cranfield University and the University of Nottingham. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute, Engineers Ireland, the Irish Academy 20
of Engineering, and the UK Higher Education Academy. Among his honours are the Napier Shaw Medal and Honorary Fellowship of CIBSE and the Roscoe Prize from the Energy Institute. He is an Honorary Professor of the University of Ulster; Harbin Institute of Technology, China; and University of Houston, USA. Renowned internationally for his research in solar energy, he has co-authored five books and over 350 research papers in the field. He also chairs the agency responsible for developing renewable energy use in Northern Ireland. He has been centrally involved in the realisation of the new DIT city centre campus at Grangegorman, the most significant development of its kind in higher education in Europe.
Terry Prendergast BSc, MPhil, MSc, MIPI Senior Planner Grangegorman Development Agency Terry Prendergast is the Senior Planner with the GDA. She is also a Lecturer in Planning with the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at DIT, where she has lectured for over 20 years. She has wide-ranging academic and professional experience in Ireland and abroad, including working for An Bord Pleanála, the United Nations, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, and various planning authorities throughout Ireland. Terry has been responsible for all aspects of planning for the Grangegorman development. As part of her responsibilities, she has steered the Grangegorman Planning Scheme 2012 through the statutory planning process. She is now working on delivering the Grangegorman development as well as continuing to lecture in DIT.
Anne O’Connor Health Service Executive Area Manager for Dublin North City Anne O’Connor is the Area Manager for HSE Dublin North City, which provides services to a population of in excess of 335,000 people. The Area spans from the Liffey to the Meath border and North Finglas on the West, and from the Liffey to Clontarf and Killester on the East. Having trained as an Occupational Therapist in the UK, Anne spent several years working in the UK , with brief periods working in India and Australia. She returned to Ireland in 1995 to work as a Senior Occupational Therapist and then Occupational Therapy Manager with the mental health services on the north side of the city. During this time she obtained a Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy from Trinity College Dublin. From 2000- 2007, Anne worked on the south side of the city as Project Manager for the South Inner City of Dublin Partnership in Primary Care before returning to the Northside to take up the role of General Manager for Primary, Community and Continuing Care Services. She became Local Health Manager the same year and took up her current role in 2011. Anne has been a member of the Board of the GDA since 2010.
John Mitchell (DMOD) and James Mary O’Connor (MRY) at the first site visit, 2007
Dick Bennett SRN, RPN, EAP Former Director of Nursing St. Brendan’s Psychiatric Hospital Born and educated in Wexford, Dick Bennett studied nursing in Whipps Cross Hospital, London, Claybury Hospital, Essex, and St. John of God Hospital, Dublin. He has also worked in Carlow and Wicklow. In 1976, Dick came to St. Brendan's Hospital in Grangegorman as Director of Nursing. He retired from the Service in 2004, and has been involved to date in helping to save and maintain the Hospital’s archival materials.
Dr. Noel O’Connor Director of Student Services Dublin Institute of Technology As Director of Student Services at DIT, Noel is responsible for planning the relocation of DIT to the new state-of-the-art urban campus at Grangegorman in Dublin’s north inner city. Masterplanning for this campus concluded in 2008 and the process of developing briefs for the design of individual buildings is currently well underway. The development will represent the largest single capital investment in higher education in the history of the state. Noel is an academic with a background in management education and tourism development with a particular interest in 21
curriculum design and development within higher education. For many years he lectured in strategic management in DIT and was Head of the School of Hospitality Management and Tourism. More recently he was Head of Institutional Planning within DIT and Head of DIT Campus Planning Office. He is a graduate of DIT, TCD, UCD and NUI Maynooth.
James Mary O’Connor AIA Principal-in-Charge, Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners In his 30-year career, architect James Mary O’Connor, AIA, has demonstrated a steadfast, passionate commitment to design excellence. Born in Dublin, Ireland, James received his Diploma in Architecture from DIT, his Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from Trinity College, Dublin and his Master of Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As Principal-in-Charge at Moore Ruble Yudell, James has provided inspired design leadership for numerous large-scale, innovative masterplanning, urban design, campus planning, residential and mixed-use projects throughout the USA and the world. James’ recent design involvement has included work for the Shanghai Theatre Academy and Shanghai Technology University campuses in China, and the new USA Embassies in
Helsinki, Finland and N’Djamena, Chad. For over 20 years, James has taught design studios, lectured, and been invited as guest critic at universities and academic institutions in the USA and throughout the world.
Gráinne Shaffrey Director, Shaffrey Associates Architects Established in 1967, Shaffrey Associates have undertaken architectural, urban design and planning projects throughout Ireland and possess a wide knowledge of Irish towns and cities. Urban design and planning practice centres principally on historic / existing urban centres and complexes, including their regeneration, consolidation and extension and is concerned with integration of new and existing urban fabric and public spaces which facilitate social and physical diversity. The principles of sustainable building and development have always informed the work of the practice and recent projects help to further explore this important aspect of architecture and planning. Research forms an important element of the overall practice. Today the firm numbers among its clients prestigious public and private organisations.