Project Description:
The Academic Hub is the landmark building at the heart of Technological University Dublin’s Grangegorman Campus. It is a cluster of buildings arranged around external courts. At the centre is the protected North House, within the old St Brendan’s hospital.
It includes a lively ground floor with student services, a café, exhibition space and Learning Commons. On the upper levels is the new Academic Hub for the Campus. It is envisaged as a light-filled lantern providing views across the city landscape, the building is a showcase for learning, research and academic activities. These fundamental principles informed the design of the scheme.
The starting point of the approach to the Academic Hub is the existing North House. The North House may have a single name, but it is in fact a pair of buildings, of varying heights. It consists of the North House West; a three-storey building, with a central spine wall, the North House East; a two-storey frame building with the potential for large open plan spaces and a central stair and water tower that is taller than both buildings.
The Academic Hub is created by a cluster of buildings integrated with the existing, rather than creating a single large building that would envelop and consume the North House. The cluster of buildings results in a series of landscaped courtyards and pocket spaces between the old and new buildings.
The Academic Hub will draw and invite people in by blurring the edges between the inside and outside. The entry level is set out like a market, with the library floating above, an urban crossroads to enhance different forms of exchange and communication between people.
The Academic Hub is to be an integral part of the overall workings of the Grangegorman campus and forms a central point in the overall scheme. It connects back to other academic facilities and departments in a variety of ways.
CLIENT:
Grangegorman Development Authority on behalf of TU Dublin
DESIGN TEAM:
Architects: O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects
Services Engineers: Max Fordham
Structural Engineers: Horgan Lynch
Quantity Surveyor: Duke McCaffery
Fire Consultant: Michael Slattery
Employer Representative: Nyland Consulting
Contractor: OHLA / Townlink
Conservation: Paul Arnold
Assigned Certifier: Catalyst
General Info
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