Design Challenge and Design Ideas

We created an internal landscape starting at the street and visually connected back to the courtyard, all linked by the different levels in the unit. We used the different levels to split the space into client and office areas with a transparent glazed bridge housing the staff canteen on top and meeting rooms tucked in below.Clients and guests enter on a gallery and are drawn down a terrazzo stairs into a sunken garden full of trees. These provide a degree of privacy to the canteen and a treetop vista to the gallery. Meeting rooms, a coffee bar and the conference room are all accessed from here. The main office is a double height space on the other side of the glazed bridge, animated by cantilevered meeting pods and another indoor streetside garden. Services are exposed to maximise the double height space and compliment the industrial feel of the space.

How the brief was fulfilled

The shell and core unit was never intended to be one space, and the 4 various different entrance levels to contend with caused major issues from a circulation and disability access perspective. We had to be very creative with our circulation and ramps so that they blend seamlessly from space to space. We used the level changes instead to create the different areas, client and office side and made them features such as the terrazzzo and steel stairs and the corridor ramp from one to the other. Although it’s dual aspect, the light quality from the street side and the courtyard side are severely compromised by 8 storey buildings on all sides.We used a combination of human centric lighting and creative lighting solutions to combat this. Itt constantly monitors and responds intuitively to the time of day,circadian rhythm, light levels and presence to provide the perfect lighting level and type.In order to create the front garden and close down access from the street,
From a fire perspective we had to re-design the entire fire strategy for the unit to link up with the existing building and Parent Fire Cert.

The combined weight of the treees and the steel structure of the mezzanine was too much for the basement ceiling slab so we had to go to Holland to specialist nurseries to source lightweight planters and trees that are hydroponic with no soil weight. The fit out fully complies with the gold medal status of the overall building.

Our design uses the principles of biophyllic design. We chose materials also for their longevity and robustness so that they last the test of time. Design wise balanced more linear geometries with soft colours and curves.

Energy efficiency waws top of their agenda, the office has a partnership with ESB on the monitoring and feedback of all their energy consumption in the office. This involved setting up an interface with the AV consultants and M&E whereby staff can continually see on screens at key points where energy is being used and how much.