Riai town centre living competition 2023 - sligo
The brief was to provide 24 dwellings on Pirn Mill Road, bounded to the East by the N4 arterial road through Sligo town. The intent was to create a central garden between 2 linear blocks, one in line with existing houses on Pirn Mill Road to continue the street frontage, and one facing a more secluded playground area to the rear. The central garden would be book-ended by a linear 5-storey apartment block to the north, taking cues from a recently refurbished mill building nearby on Finiskiln Road.
Central Model Schools
Survey elevation of the Central Model Schools in Dublin 1 as part of a proposal to provide additional accommodation in a separate extension building. The main school building was originally constructed in 1859 as a teacher training facility and is an example of Neo-Byzantine architecture.
The Forge
Design drawings and details for an extension and renovation project to a house centred around an existing blacksmithing forge in Co. Cork. The proposal sought to re-configure the house around the historic forge, and the original chimney was used as an anchoring point. The building comprises distinct treatments to the upper and lower floors. The lower form is a solid plinth that utilises stepped reveals to reflect the vertical erosion of the existing rock outcrop on the site. The upper form presents a lightweight element to capture the stunning views across the site, uses timber elements in a number of ways to achieve cladding and screening for privacy and shading.
The Olympia Theatre
Survey drawing of the Dame St elevation and facade study of the principal entrance to the theatre. Much of the historic joinery and decorative details had been damaged due to water ingress or previous mechanical and electrical service routes. These drawings, along with historical research, site visits and a photographic record, formed a basis for proposed repair works to the existing fabric.
Kearney House
South-West and North-East facing elevations of the final design for an extension and renovation to a period country house in Co. Meath. The design connects the main house to a previously dis-used coach house through the addition of a new extension or “link” between the buildings. The treatment of this extension on the North-East and South-West facades is a response to different elements of the existing buildings and site. The North-East facing elevation presents a tri-partite facade, referencing the proportions of the 3-bay front facade of the main house. The South-West facing elevation comprises a colonnaded facade to express a delicate connection between the main house and the coach house, and reference a nearby existing byre structure through the use of brick piers.
Camera Obscura
With reference to the Windmillʼs original purpose of providing sustenance and connecting folk to work and place, the camera obscura proposes to re-establish this connection by promoting the understanding of the physical relationships created by interaction of place, work and people through close observation. The observer, from a dislocated position, experiences and witnesses the local living landscape and its relationship within the wider environment and informs their outlook through an “Outlook Tower” as championed by the Scottish biologist and socialist, Patrick Geddes.
Native larch is proposed to clad the housing for the camera lense which sits within the enclosure of the stone structure. Existing stone indents are use to spring the structural larch beams which are off centred and stacked to spiral upwards, inspired by windmill sails, to gain the height required and create the central opening for the light projection.
