risinghome paper 3

Vacancy Paper 3 An M.Arch Research and Design Studio School of Architecture, Planning + Environmental Policy University College Dublin

risinghome 3 From vacant to vibrant - towards new homes in old buildings

This is risinghome’s third turn around the blocks, interrogating the stuff and grit of housing, trying to figure out what contribution we can make to the pressing need for delivery of affordable and quality homes. As part of the UCD M.Arch program we have committed to focus on research and design of housing over several semesters, to allow us time to build our collective knowledge, needle the question, experiment and take risks. We are giving ourselves time to learn.

You might think that after three semesters we would either be getting a bit tired of housing or that we might start to feel we have the answers. The response to both suppositions is a loud and universal “No”. If anything, as we get further beneath the skin of the topic of housing and home, we are opening up more areas and themes for exploration. We realise we have more questions than answers, and that is a big incentive to keep working.

Another incentive comes from the growing network of partnerships with whom we are proud to work. Arising out of the housing colloquium (The Housing Crisis – What Do We Need to Do Now), held as part of the UCD Festival in June 2016, we learned that the Peter McVerry Trust were planning to take over management of Reusing Dublin – an innovative online platform developed by Philip Crowe and Aoife Corcoran through their UCD Turas PhD research project. The platform facilitates crowd sourced mapping of vacant space. We approached the PMV Trust to ask if they would be interested in partnering with the staff and students of the risinghome program to explore ways of re-using vacant buildings in Dublin city for housing. The PMV Trust have been an active, supportive and engaged partner in risinghome 3; suggesting buildings with which we might work, coming to the

studio in UCD to speak with students about how they adapt buildings for re-use, helping to disseminate our work through film and exhibition at their Empty Homes Conference in Croke Park, and being part of the conversation at design reviews. They, along with all the expert panel speakers who so kindly and generously shared their knowledge with students over the course of the semester, have made a huge and vital contribution to this program. This questioning of the work of the program as it develops continues to be essential to the progress of risinghome.

When students put their interim design work on the walls of the Empty Homes Conference back in March, a thought crossed our minds. We realised then, that the biggest contribution we can make is to design housing well, carefully and with passion, and also to communicate this potential as broadly as we can, through exhibition and publication of the work. These are the key skills that students participating in risinghome are learning. In the midst of all the debate about numbers of units, means of procurement, new build or adaptive re-use, risinghome brings design to the table, through engaging and exciting drawings and models, which are the culmination of a lot of research, thought and reiteration.

Behind each of these drawings, those same questions about who builds it, how they build it, and who can afford it, are there and have been considered. Most of all, however, embedded in the projects are thoughts about how great these homes can be, whether big or small, transitory or permanent, for students or families.

This risinghome program focused on re-use of vacant buildings.

Adaptive re-use of vacant buildings for housing has the potential to address each of the five pillars in Rebuilding

2

Ireland. It can connect into existing built, social and cultural infrastructure and reinforce it by providing the critical mass of occupation that our cities need. As we worked with five vacant buildings over the course of the semester, we realised that the fabric and character of the buildings played a huge part in helping to define the quality of the new homes. It did not really matter whether that fabric was Georgian, Victorian or from the 20th century: once we started to see the buildings as net contributors and worked with them, real homes began to emerge. When students took on and worked with party wall quirks, non-standard ceiling heights, industrial concrete structures, in other words, when they re-occupied the buildings warts and all, the homes began to sing. In this paper and across five very different buildings you will find homes for activists, homes for families and homes for students. You can find homes for those moving on and for those hoping to stay and grow. There are homes considered from the point of view of the child, homes designed from the outside in, homes where being together is as important as being alone – in short, working with existing buildings provides huge potential for diversity in design and use.

If existing buildings are the matter of our cities and housing is the grain and backdrop to the life of cities, it seems an obvious next step to get vacant buildings working again, earning their keep, supporting homes for the broadest variety of households and income levels. The work of our students demonstrates that this need not be just a political action to address a crisis; it can also be a potent way to make great places to live.

Orla Murphy + Emmett Scanlon Coordinators risinghome program

Sustainable development has been defined as that which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs “. In the context of the housing crisis, the needs of the present are immediate, but housing is for the long term and our built environment has a life and an impact far beyond the short term need for shelter.

Peter McVerry Trust is very grateful for the opportunity to partner with risinghome. The partnership, and the engagement that has followed through the process has been invaluable to us an organisation.

Peter McVerry Trust is constantly seeking sustainable, evidence based solutions to the housing and homeless crisis and risinghome was a great opportunity to delve deeper into the area of empty homes, buildings and underused spaces.

The work undertaken by the students has been hugely interesting and exciting. They have shown that adaptive reuse can provide high quality homes for all types of tenures. The work also shows the varied and many creative ways in which existing buildings can be adapted and reused to meet current and future housing requirements.

Perhaps most importantly risinghome provides tangible examples to policy makers, NGOs and others of how we can approach and achieve innovative outcomes in our work. We would like to thank Orla and the students for the chance to engage with the programme.

Ultimately, working with all the students and staff involved in the risinghome project has enhanced our ability to provide homes to those in need, and in so doing, it has brought us closer to achieving our goal of ending homelessness.

Francis Doherty Head of Communciations Peter McVerry Trust

Many buildings that have outlived their original purpose are in a slow decline in our cities, suburbs, towns and villages. Urban areas that grew incrementally over generations have many vacant and underoccupied buildings. This is an untapped resource of sheltered spaces in established communities, with good infrastructure, that is available to meet current housing need. Census 2016 records more than 180,000 vacant homes, not including other non-residential and commercial buildings. Spaces of just 40-100 square metres are well suited the needs of highest housing demand, apartments for 1-3 person households .

Adapting and upgrading these existing buildings for housing is the quickest and cheapest solution to the current housing supply crisis . It is also the most sustainable and most efficient use of limited resources; more than four apartment conversions can be carried out for the cost of a single new build house. The added benefits are investment in urban renewal, reduced demand for new infrastructure and support for existing commercial and community services.

The work of the 2016/17 M.Arch students brings both research and imagination to the problem. Through visualising and demonstrating workable solutions, the hidden potential in a wide range of structures is revealed. Interventions that are well researched, sometimes modest, illustrate that safe, sustainable solutions must be design-led. Re-invention is the key to making good homes and vibrant communities.

Orla Hegarty Lecturer UCD School of Architecture, Planning + Environmental Policy

3

I moved into Parity studios in February this year as the first artist in residence for the College of Engineering and Architecture in UCD; this encompasses three sites: Richview (Architecture), Richview Newstead (Civil Engineering) and UCD Engineering and Materials Science Centre. I’ve visited all three sites now and have begun meeting with lecturers, researchers and students.

In architecture I have been talking with 4th year students who are working in the risinghome. studio, looking at five empty buildings along the red Luas line, with a view to re-occupation for dwelling. I really enjoyed visiting their studio space as it was constantly active and walking around observing drawings and models changing and developing was always interesting. In March I attend the students interim presentations and also their second review in April. Listening to the students projections and aspirations for the adaptation of each building was impressive and the opportunity to hear feed back and problem solving approaches from the review panel (which I was invited to contribute to!) was also great. The process was of interest to me on another level too as I am also addressing these same unoccupied buildings in my own work in relation to an on going drawing series I began in 2013 titled Housing Area. The students gave me access to the same plans they have been using, which I am now currently working with, albeit in a parallel manner. They have also assisted me in another way; in my practice I look for what is left over from a process as a way of forwarding my work and to this end they have given me leftover materials from their model making for this project, positive and negative shapes which I have already begun to use in my work.

Julie Merriman Artist in Residence UCD College of Engineering and Architecture

4

risinghome Process and Research

40-42 Hill Street 43-44 O’Connell Street

28 Abbey Street Lower

144 Upper Abbey Street 21-25 Chancery Street

M AP OF D UBLIN , WITHwasTHE SIXinto SELECTE The structure of the semester divided four sections: Discover, Describe, Develop and Deliver.

To begin we worked with our partners in the Peter McVerry Trust to shortlist and research a number of vacant buildings in Dublin City Centre, which would be of interest to work on. Five buildings were jointly selected: 43-44 O’Connell Street, 28 Lower Abbey Street, 144-145 Upper Abbey Street, 40-42 Hill Street and 21-25 Chancery Street.

In parallel other teams of students researched housing demographics, housing policy and the housing system and how to negotiate it, and adaptive housing paradigms.

Another group considered the physicality of occupying room, through a 1:1 inhabitation of the studio –

D considering VACANT comfort, BUIL DINGS AROUN THE light, storage, workDand play.RE D LUAS alongLINE with the key research questions pertaining to The Discover stage ran through the full semester thanks to the weekly input from panels of experts who so generously contributed to discussions on housing policy, vacancy and adaptation. Having selected their preferred building to occupy, students brought the research input to a studio workshop in which an overall theme was agreed for each building. This was a guide that identified the opportunities and the challenges of the existing structures and how best they might be adapted, for example, combinations of co-housing, live-work, student and transitionary homes.

In the subsequent weeks of design, students honed these programs to define the type, area and mix of homes,

5

their building. Pairs of students researched precedents that were relevant to their approach, making large-scale models and drawings of key elements.

Students were encouraged to study their proposals at large scale, through models and drawings, as a means to understand the material and tactile quality of dwelling, and of the relationship between new and old.

In the final two weeks of the semester, students reflected on their projects to make a finished piece of work, and curated and installed their group exhibition. This research and the projects that follow provide a summary of risinghome 3.

2715 4449

0.2%

2011

2016

13.3%

14.6%

2016

71% 17%

43%

9%

31%

80%

2016

Mountjoy A

-2.9%

2011

Connolly Station 32%

North City

Inns Quay

11.2%

77% 9%

Arran Quay C

Heuston Station

-

2011

63%

-0.2%

22.4%

29%

23%

15% 86%

=498

10.8%

+

2011

5313

1.8%

=145

6.7%

+

5441

69%

North Dock C

-

2016

-35.5% 51% 22%

4162%

Ushers B

Me rchants Quay A

Ushers A

Royal Exchange

-4% =258

2492 1311 3902

Population Population Change Vacancy Rate Change in Vacancy Rental Type Type of Housing

6.7%

1.5%

=284

36%

+

8.7% 2011

-

2016

2011

-64%

8%

6%

2011

32.4%

2016

39%

13.3% 23%

2011

1.5%

52%

2598

44%

-2.7%

87%

=104

7.8%

8%

78%

=537

Wood Quay A

8%

85%

66%

+

12.4%

2016

4550

17%

2011

34%

2016

2011

21%

+

2016

29.4%

30% 63%

+ 2016

13.4% 14.6%

57% 31%

44.1%

63%

84% 9%

0%

34%

14%

Urban Analysis

78%

5

Busaras Connolly

Abbey Street

Jervis

Four Courts

Smithfield

ns mi

ns mi

15

15

1

Museum

Heuston

Understanding North Inner City Dublin

ns mi

Inner catchment areas are a standardised measurement of 500m

6

2006-2011

3%3%

26.6 26.6 minutes travelling to work

2006-2011

minutes travelling to work

96,796 96,796

73,714 73,714

women to work women walkwalk to work

men men walk to walk work to work

10 77 10 inin women drive women drive to work

2 23 3

1 14 4

in in workers commute from workers from outside dublincommute city

to work

in indrive to work

10 66 10

drive to work

outside dublin city

in menindrive men drive to work

to work

50% 1981-2011

10%

12%

50% 1981-2011

12%

1981-2011

2006-2011

10%

1981-2011

2006-2011

76%

55%

76%

18%

55%

of cyclists are men

of public transport is used by women

of cyclists are men

2006-2011

18%

of public transport is used by women

2006-2011

20% 2006-2011

20% 2006-2011

Transit Analysis How we travel

12.8% Vacant 0.08% Obselete each year 8% Social Housing

31% 1 Person

31% Houses

64% Apartments

8% Social Housing

64% Apartments

0.08% Obselete each year

31% Houses

12.8% Vacant

31% 1 Person 21% Families

70% Owner Occupied

21% Families Couples 19% Co-Habiting 16% Private Renting 11% Lone Parents

11% State Support Private Rental

70% Owner Occupied

92% Private Housing

Co-Habiting 9%19% 2+ Unrelated PeopleCouples

85% Occupied

16% Private Renting 11% Lone Parents in Dublin City 208,008 households

242, 397 Dublin City Housing Stock

11% State Support Private Rental 92% Private Housing

9% 2+ Unrelated People

85% Occupied 7

43-44 O’Connell Street Destroyed during the bombardment of the GPO in 1916, 43-44 O’Connell Street – a protected structure – was rebuilt as part of the reconstruction of Dublin following the Easter Rising. The building is characterised by its generous floor to ceiling heights, modeled limestone façade and corner relationship to the city’s main thoroughfare. The current tenant on the ground floor is Clark’s, the latest in a long line of shoe shops to occupy the ground floor. Proposals for the vacant upper floors of this building examined how a variety of occupants might inhabit such a public building.

In some cases live-work homes facilitate a semi-public function; in others privacy is considered by means of thick edges, inhabited storage walls and reference to pochée and architectural promenade.

Area of vacant space: 784sqm Average Number of Dwellings Provided: 4

1

8

2 1. Christine Savage 2. Claire Chenard

existing (retained) new

3. Alex Martinez 4. Chloe Spiby Loh (p10)

t floor 1:50

nard 1|2 2

3

4m

3

9

4

10

28 Abbey Street Lower Dating from the late 18th and early 19th century, this pair of buildings addresses both Lower Abbey Street and Marlborough Street. The east faรงade faces directly onto the Abbey Theatre. All five stories, including the basement are vacant and in poor repair. Students working with this building considered ways to make high quality small homes. These homes cater for those newly arrived in the city, transitioning between homes, or in need of a small and affordable home for a while. Clever design of shared circulation, entry and roof spaces becomes all the more important for these occupants. As a narrow building with two party wall conditions, light from the east and the sky is valued as a resource to use. These homes celebrate living in the city and question the ability of the city to become an extended living room, from which the home is a place of refuge.

Area of vacant space: 543sqm Average no. of dwellings provided: 8 1

11

2 1. Theresa Amesberger (p11) 2. Ronan O’Domhnaill 3. Murtada Almohsen 3. Johanna Permert 4. Cristina Garcia Pujol 5. Conor English

3

12

4

5

6

13

144 Upper Abbey Street Three vacant buildings remain on this otherwise empty site: 144 Upper Abbey Street, a four storey terrace brick building; 55 Wolfe Tone Street, a three-storey house; and 146 Upper Abbey Street, a single storey store. The remaining fragments offer clues to the scale of this part of the city which has undergone change as part of a mainly commercial/retail district and which faces directly onto the Red Luas Line.

Projects here considered a variety of co-housing models, incorporating a mix of private and shared spaces. The site afforded and demanded a consideration of external space, both as amenity for the occupants and as vital ‘lungs’ for this part of the city centre. By maintaining and re-occupying the vacant structure, projects retained a relationship between what it means to live in contemporary Dublin and the story of city’s chequered past.

Site Area: 700sqm Average no. of homes provided: 30

1

14

1. Laura Doyle 2. Alanna Holmes 3. Liam Naessens 4. Moa Svensson 5. Stephen Gotting (p16) 6. Robin Fontaine (p16)

2

3

4

15

5

6

16

40-42 Hill Street These three vacant buildings were formally the home of the Orrwear factory, built on the mews sites to the rear of North Great George’s Street. The buildings offer a patchwork of construction, layout and accommodation, but the main characteristic is the existing concrete structure to nos. 40 and 41, and existing right of way through the site from North Great George’s Street. Proposals for re-occupation of these buildings considered the home as part of a neighbourhood community. On site amenities offered facilities to the existing area. One project explores how minimum cost homes could be cheaply grafted onto the existing structure, with potential for families to extend their homes over a lifetime as finance allows. In other proposals courts and gardens are threaded 1 1. Julien Chatel 2. Vega Pérez-Lozao Calero (p18)

through the deep site providing both daylight and external space between the homes. How to retrofit a structural frame is questioned, valuing the light of high ceilings, while providing comfort.

3. Janice Po (p18) 4. Lauren McInnes (p18) 5. Edward Horan (p19)

Area of vacant space: 1300sqm Average no. of homes provided: 16

17

2

3

4

ReOccupation Lauren McInnes 3|3 18

5

19

21-25 Chancery Street Built in 1972, Riverhouse was the home of the former Motor Tax office. It is a six storey concrete framed structure clad with pre-cast concrete panels and fixed glazing units.

Access is via a central circulation core. A challenge with this building was how to modify the skin of the building to bring ventilation, daylight and private open space to new homes.

However it also offered opportunities as a free standing building, addressed Christchurch Cathedral across the river Liffey. Its location and stand alone character defines it as a landmark building. Its imposing character prompted students to prod it into action, in one case as an activated squat inhabited gradually as time and money allowed; as a giant greenhouse for the city; as a place of play, robust enough to take major intervention. The foil this building provides for action, demonstrates the continuing value of buildings that might be assumed to have passed their useful lives.

Area of vacant building: 5250sqm Average no. of homes provided: 25 1

20

2

21

1. Ozan Balcik (p21) 2. Nicholas Cunningham 3. Chloe Roehrig 4. Theo Frei 5. Judy Li

3

4

5

22

Participants risinghome 3 Semester 2 2016-17 Students Murtada Almohsen (Ireland) Theresa Amesberger (Germany) Ozan Balcik (Ireland) Julien Chatel (France) Claire Chenard (France) Nicholas Cunningham (Ireland) Laura Doyle (Ireland) Conor English (Ireland) Theo Frieh (France) Robin Fontaine (France) Cristina Garcia Pujol (Spain) Stephen Gotting (Ireland) Alanna Homes (Ireland) Edward Horan (Ireland) Judy Li (United States) Chloe Spiby Loh (United Kingdom) Alex Martinez (Ireland) Lauren McInnes (Australia) Camille Medjkouh Boulain (France) Liam Naessens (Ireland) Ronan O’Domhnaill (Ireland) Johanna Permert (Sweden) Janice Po (Hong Kong) Vega Pérez-Lozao Calero (Spain) Chloe Roehrig (Australia) Christine Savage (Australia) Moa Svensson (Sweden) Title: RisingHome 3

Visitors

Staff

Authors: Murphy, Orla; Scanlon, Emmett; Lord, Laurence

Francis Doherty (PMV Trust) Nyle Lennon (PMV Trust) Orla Hegarty (UCD) Mel Reynolds (Architect) Isoilde Dillon (Housing Agency) Lisa O’Brien (OBQS) Ciarán Cuffe (Dublin City Council) Roisín de Paor (OPW) Gráinne Shaffrey (Shaffrey Associates) Ruth O’ Herlihy (MCM Architects) Nuala Flood (QUB) Julie Merriman (UCD Artist in Residence) Tatjana Schneider (SSoA)

Gerry Cahill Mary Laheen Laurence Lord Stephen Mulhall Orla Murphy (Coordinator) Emmett Scanlon

Published by: UCD School of Architecture,Planning and Environmental Science ISBN: 978-1-910963-14-2

23

Drawing Above: Julie Merriman Overleaf: Stephen Gotting Photo credits p2-4: PMV Trust

Copyright with all authors / UCD Architecture

This risinghome exhibition + newspaper is part of a program of housing research and design established in 2016 as part of the M.Arch program at UCD Architecture.

This edition has been published on the occasion of SHOW UP, the end of year show of the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy at UCD, June 2017.

www.risinghome.eu www.ucd.ie/apep @UCD_arch @UCD_March #risinghome