Bessborough Creche, cork
The project consists of a Crèche, Montessori and Holistic School facility on the site of a former convent at the Bessborough Estate, a 60 acre site given over to community services in Blackrock, Cork.
The three different childcare facilities were accommodated in three different locations. The new building houses these three separate functions under one roof.
The design approach taken was to deliver identity to these functions while providing a unified whole that creates a warm, colourful safe and bright environment for up to 75 pre-school children.
Mahon Family Resource centre, cork
The project is a crèche and adult education facility in Mahon, Cork designed to provide a warm and welcoming community facility offering adult education, night courses, counselling and information/support facility for a low income area.
Due to the unsympathetic environment the building forms a robust brick external enclosure with facilties wrapped around a sheltered internal courtyard. This provides an active landscaped play area around which the accommodation is orientated in a variety of scales, thereby creating a non-institutional environment for the delivery of learning and care facilities.
The main etrance is wide and welcoming and draws the visitor into the heart of the scheme, to be greeted by a stairway designed as a community art project with hand-crafted clay tiles.
Barnardos Creche, knocknaheeny, cork
The project consists of a 750 m² childcare facility on a 0.1 hectare site in the north side of Cork City. The stand alone two storey L-shaped building has street access on two levels. The lower level accommodates the crèche, administration and courtyard garden.
The upper level houses the after-school club, staff room, gross motor skills and roof terrace.
The design is based on the concept of creating a learning and interactive series of flexible spaces for childhood development in a secure environment. It is designed to be a distinctive and identifiable civic building that sits comfortably into the domestic scale of its surrroundings and blends a welcoming approachable quality with a robustly practical exterior.
Rushbrooke national school, cobh, co. cork
The Rushbrooke National School in Cobh, Co. Cork had surpassed its’ capacity and a new school was required for 680 pupils on the same site.
The new building is a 4200 m², two storey, 24 classroom primary school with a special needs unit, sports hall, library, staff facilities and administration.
Construction was completed within a tight programme and on the same site as the existing live school.
The design approach utilises the sloping site to create internal and external spaces that optimise the light quality in both teaching and circulation spaces.
Ease of movement between teaching and outdoor spaces was prioritised. A carefully considered colour scheme of earthy tones assists in way-finding.
The circulation routes wrap around a central courtyard garden which assists orientation and is designed as a calm contemplative outdoor learning space, as well as housing a grey water harvesting system to economise on water usage.
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Scout Hall,
Co. tipperary
This Scout group decided to build a base for activities close to the Galtee mountains. The site includes a meadow, pond, woodland and stream. The primary activity is a campsite but basic accommodation/shelter, stores and support facilities, were also to be provided, all on a modest budget.
The placing of this accommodation on the site and the orientation and arrangement of the enclosed spaces under the roof is an exercise in the economy of providing simple, effective shelter. Given the rural setting, the choice of the traditional barn idiom was both visually appropriate and proved very cost effective.
Internal spaces consist of a barrel-vaulted main hall doubling as bad weather sleeping room, kitchen, small office, two leaders sleeping rooms, toilets, showers and wash-up. The barn roof extends beyond the timber-built internal rooms on all sides. In an Irish climate this sheltered edge space is very valuable, providing covered circulation, and protection to the building fabric. It also offers a spacious pow wow area to welcome large groups, covered space for activities, shelter for taking off wet gear and space to dry tents