The buildings are orientated with the relationship between the community, the park and town in mind.The internal spaces are arranged in an open and free manner to encourage both interactions between community members on both a physical and visual basis. The buildings will be constructed primarily with concrete and solid wood.
Each room is a box and the building is a conglomeration of these boxes. The shape, orientation and location of them relate to the context of Chapelizod, but developed from their internal function. The public space connecting the rooms opens up to the environement and allows specific views out and through the building.
The experiences of street and park are celebrated, elements that facilitate the extension of street inside the new scheme and house it for multi purpose public use, simultaneously in- corporating parkland views through inclusion of courtyard spaces. Three primary spaces with adjacent ancillary services. Masonry walls contrast with the old park wall, floors paved similar to the cobbled streets of Chapelizod to enhance a feeling of a streetscape.
A textured concrete tower, which nods to the towering church and tall trees, is wrapped in glass for the low level public offices and the exhibition gallery. The tower provides a dramatic high ceilinged reading space with a large fireplace, inviting all into this public living room. With framed views outwards to the trees, church and new courtyard, there are colonnaded views inwards to the exhibition gallery along the path from the village to the park.
The outdoor space may perhaps seem rather sheltered and cluttered as opposed to the indoor environment (the upper floor); the building’s envelope, a curtain wall of triple glazing glass that enables the visitor to experience the light and vastness of the surrounding world whilst being at a centre of knowledge and learning alike.
The concept of the building is that the existing heavy stone wall runs through the building, so as not just to create spaces externally but internally too. A library is a place where people can come and sit, relax and read, views to the Phoenix Park from the reading room and exhibition space make this easy for the everyday library user.
When creating my library I strived to achieve two things. These were: an airy, open plan reading room flooded with natural daylight and key windows which captured the site’s magnificent views including the church and walled garden. My brick library, which works with the character and context of Chapelizod achieved this.
A public orchard grows in the south east corner as the public building fills the core of the site. One enters the brick cave and is pulled vertically up. A timber structure fans out while readers study among the tree tops. People can see over the wall from their town past the shadows into their park.
A path is created by a row of cherry blossom trees, leading the visitor up to the library building which is unified in rhythm and pattern by the fibre cement panels and continuous windows. A connection is created between readers and the high tree canopy of the Phoenix Park. Visitors experience external courtyards linking the library back to the outdoor environment, and the park next door.
A public building with two stories, each with an individual concept and purpose, one relating to a courtyard of buildings and a masonry wall. The second storey relating to a library, a place of higher self learning set among the magnificnt trees of the Phoenix Park.
A theme of Liffey islands is the keystone of this project. The ground rises around the structure with three elements breaking the surface. They are connected by a sub-terrain, circulation space which is lit using lightwells. A sinuous series of built forms and circulation routes defines both the internal and external spaces.
The overriding meta idea of this design scheme includes three distinct buildings, two of which lay the foundations for shaping an external courtyard. The configuration of the two public buildings (library and exhibition space) in union with Phoenix Park wall, construct a tranquil and semi private hub for child play, contemplation, social interaction and outdoor entertainment. The main reading room windows and upper exhibition glass panel system place further emphasis on the courtyard space below.
A broad limestone avenue takes you on a journey. Following the path your gaze sees a limestone wall which solidifies as you walk towards the entrance. Being drawn in by two limestone walls you enter through thin glass. Behind the facade the building is rational and through the use of two grains on different floors comfortable spaces are carved out at different heights. The new sits within the old and where it is rational it yields to the walls and to the park.
My concept focuses on the quality of spaces within in the central core of the tower, surrounded by a strict circulation route around the perimeter. The constant movement, in contrast with the quieter internal and external spaces along the route define the library and also strengthens its strong connection with the surrounding landscape in particular the church and the Phoenix Park trees
The phoenix park wall and that of the church become the boundaries of the building. Playing with the idea of the public and private realms of a building, “The space between” becomes a key theme, with the private spaces inadvertently creating the public space in the building.
The library sits behind a stepped hard landscape, a plaza for Chapelizod.
A series of heavy brick walls form the various spaces. These walls are broken down to create circulation space or views out onto courtyards that are pulled back from the Phoenix park wall.
Roofs are the main feature of this project. They define the functions and are also the primary means of architectural expression suggesting the importance and hierarchy of each building. They announce themselves without being overly intrusive on the context. Through the roofs, the spaces are divided between public and private. The central cloister is the place where all barriers are broken down; and through the use of columns and overhanging roofs and the community can interact.
