” If you build something in such a way that people love it, they will take care of it, and a building can last for hundreds of years.”
Seán Harrington was recently interviewed for www.citiesintransition.eu about our approach to green building.See the interview here; www.citiesintransition.eu/interview/a-green-view-on-building.

We are pleased to announce that some of our work has been chosen to feature in a major international exhibition in Berlin, entitled “Demo:polis, The Right to Public Space”.Running from 11 March until May 29 2016 at Akademie der Künste, the exhibition introduces the scope and significance of public space for contemporary society, looking at exemplars from around the world. As part of this, our work designing and making the outdoor amphitheatre at Granby Pop-up Parkhttp://www.sha.ie/portfolio/pallet-theatre/ is featured. The exhibition kicks off with a public symposium on March 12, to which Seán Harrington has been invited to participate. See; www.adk.de/en/projects/2015/demopolis.

As the fine weather continues in Monaghan, work on site is progressing well. The steelwork for the roofs of the first and second classrooms is now in place and the block work has been completed for both new toilet blocks. The last of the steelwork for the spine corridor has been completed and the contractor is now preparing to dig the foundations for the third new classroom. Last week also saw the arrival of the pre-cast concrete stairs to site, which connects the upper and lower level playgrounds.

Within the existing building all the temporary works have been completed. Several new openings have been created within the building’s stonewalls, which allow for the reconfiguration of space and connection to the new extension.

We are delighted to have recently been shortlisted in the 2014 Irish Architecture Public Choice Awards (www.architectureawards.ie), for two of our projects that were completed in the last year.

The first of these is Our Lady’s Nursery, Sillogue, Dublin, a purpose designed nursery catering for almost 80 infants and young children. The new nursery replaces a 41 year old pre-fabricated building, which no longer met the required standards for providing an up-to-date system of Childcare and pre-school Education. The building is ‘L’ shaped in plan, housing 4 main classrooms and 2 smaller rooms for toddlers and babies, all of which address a sunny, protected courtyard playground to the south west. A roof garden formed over the single storey block is accessed either through the building or via an external ramp that wraps around the two storey volume.

The second project is Granby Park, a pop-up park constructed for 5 weeks during August and September 2013 and developed in collaboration with A2 Architects. Seán Harrington Architects designed the open air ‘Pallet Theatre’, made, as the name implies, from pallets, and laid in a circular arrangement, like a small classical amphitheatre. The undulating wall swooped from a 5m+ wall as a backdrop to the stage, to a seat height limb that extended into the park, to welcome visitors into the space.

We would love it if you would take a moment to consider one of our projects in the public vote, so best of luck with deciding which one! Click here to link directly to the architecture awards website, here for more information on Our Lady’s Nursery, and here for further details of the Pallet Theatre.

I was fortunate enough to visit Malahide Parish Centre (a recently completed project of ours) earlier this week, at a time when the latest art commission was being installed.

Designed by Sinéad Cullen (www.sineadcullen.com), and made by Bronze Art Foundry (www.bronzeart.ie), the piece is a bronze ’tile’ set into the paving in the centre of the church plaza. From a distance, the artwork is understated, but on closer inspection it is a deep three-
dimensional spiral of overlaid twigs and leaves, all under a rich but subtle multilayered patina. The depth and patina allow the piece to be ever changing, as the passage of daylight and sunlight changes over the south facing plaza.

If you are in the area, why not drop in and have a look, and when you are there visit the Parish Centre for a coffee.

For more information on the Parish Centre building, click here.

Our community library project in Granard, County Longford, was opened last Thursday by the Minister of Environment, Phil Hogan. It was a great day in Granard, and the sun even came out for the occasion. The event was attended by the whole Longford County Council client team of County Librarian Mary Carleton Reynolds, Longford County Mayor Larry Bannon, County Manager Tim Caffrey, Director of Services Frank Sheridan, librarians Paula Rosemary Gaynor and Paula Mulry, Clerk of Works Milo Lowry, County Heritage Officer Máiréad Ní Chonghaile and many many others who have been instrumental in making the project happen. We are delighted to have worked with builders Frank McKiernan & Sons to complete the rejuvenation of this important Market House building dating from 1810, and hope the people of Granard will enjoy the new community library and meeting hall for many more years to come.

The keenly anticipated completion of the new bridge is almost upon us, and we hope to see the works complete and the bridge in use in the next few days.

The official opening date will be announced shortly

If you have seen our previous ‘News from the Square’ post, you will no doubt be aware of the recent ‘City Vineyard’ intervention by Mc Guigan Wines of Australia. The week long event undoubtedly captured the imagination of anyone that happened across it, and for those of you that may have missed it, Mc Guigan Wines have created a video of the event highlights. Enjoy.

Having previously written about the conceptual design and building layout of the new nursery school at Sillogue, we now conclude with the development of the design in cross section, and the environmental considerations.

As seen in our previous post, the main classroom accommodation spans north to south, enabling the classrooms to benefit from a westerly aspect. This has proven to be quite beneficial in controlling heat loss, as it enables the building to have almost no windows on the colder northern edge, and limited windows to the overshadowed east elevation. In addition, the openings on the south facade of the classroom block are limited to a series of small individual ‘spyholes’ arranged in a star constellation (the pattern of which will be clearly visible outside the building when the internal lights are lit on dark winter’s evenings), so there are no concerns of excessive solar gain to this facade.

The main west facade has therefore required most attention in our attempt to balance the competing demands of limiting heat loss, reducing solar gain and ensuring adequate daylight and ventilation. The placing and sizing of windows has therefore been critical, and the eventual configuration of 4 generous windows arranged in a grid ensures that the higher level windows allow daylight to penetrate deep into the room, with the lower windows maintaining views into the courtyard and beyond. In addition, each room features a further lower ‘spyhole’ window, by means of a door or small fixed window at floor level, at a height suitable for small children.

The glazing used has a reasonably high G-value of 0.34, to prevent excessive solar gain. Thermal dynamic modelling of the building has proven that natural ventilation is adequate for almost all of the building, with cooling only provide as a back-up to the catering specification kitchen and infant sleeping areas, if required.

Although the external walls are generally constructed in blockwork and brickwork, the west facade is constructed in 225mm deep timber joists to allow greater flexibility in window positioning. The voids between are full filled with quilt insulation, and in combination with the 50mm cold bridging insulation internally, it achieves a U-value of 0.13W/m2K.

The timber structure is the perfect substrate for the Tegral cladding boards. These have been configured in various widths in a series of stacked horizontal bands, each separated by a sloping Tegral sill detail. Mixed with the largely white coloured panels are a series of randomly located, narrow recessed grey coloured slots to accommodate the ventilation outlets and smaller ‘spyhole’ windows. In addition, highlights of colour are used at window locations. This rich, colourful and animated main elevation, inspired by the grid-based paintings of Piet Mondrian, contrasts nicely with the remaining simple and understated elevations in brick and painted render.

The building has now just been completed, and Our Lady’s Nursery are due to move into the building shortly. We would like to take the opportunity to wish Sr. Majella and her staff many years of happiness in their new home.