FOCAS Research Institute

COMPETITION ENTRY FOR DUBLIN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION HUB

00 entered a competition for a mini masterplan and a vision for TU Dublin’s new Facility for Optical Characterisation and Spectroscopy. The competition brief included a mini masterplan and a vision for a new Research and Innovation Hub with the option for future controlled expansion.

Our proposal sought to foster a community by providing open, collaborative, interdisciplinary workspaces that support ideation, iteration, sharing and ultimately dissemination.

The design starts by wholeheartedly engaging the existing neighbouring building the Greenway Hub, unlocking the opportunity to create a combined piano nobile, bringing researchers together around a central, top-lit hall and open lecture theatre stair, surrounded by more intimate, informal spaces in which to stop and meet.

The programme for the building is laid out in simple, flexible zones from east to west; labs overlook the Quad providing strong connections between the interior and the landscape bridged by balconies at first floor; immediately adjacent workspaces form a gallery and buffer to informal working and social spaces around the triple-height central hall. A similar sequence across the Greenway building completes an integrated first floor.

Phase 2, provides further discrete lab and workspace in a “barbican” at the western end of the colonnaded walkway, serving as a gateway to the Mid Quad and connecting into the upper levels of the Greenway Hub. Its discrete location mitigates disruption during its construction, particularly vibration.

Client: TU Dublin
Location of project: Grangegorman, Dublin