Architects: O’Donnell + Tuomey
I’m very drawn to pockets of cities that communicate a diversity of architectural styles and circumstance, from historic to contemporary, from dilapidated to rebuilt and unbuilt. The co-existence of different types of buildings and the ever-changing uses of these structures reveals a dynamic social, political, historical and industrial story of Dublin. It is true that the processes involved in creating the built environment can reveal the desires, tastes and priorities of a society at any given time. Reading the history of the Coombe and Cork Street through its buildings, plays a significant role in our understanding of the development of Dublin 8.
I live on Cork Street and pass by Timberyard Housing everyday, which is probably one of my favourite things about living around there. Designed by Dublin office, O’Donnell + Toumey Architects, the scheme was generated out of the redevelopment of the area and the construction of the Coombe bypass. This creation of an urban corridor exposed challenges and opportunities to redress the needs of people invested in the area, from the local authority to the local community. The debates, negotiations and fall-outs over decades, caused by the significant re-development of the street were reconciled with the emergence of this red-bricked form onto the urban landscape in 2009.
No matter what direction you approach this building, it looks good from every angle; from Dolphins Barn it uncovers gradually, from St Patricks it offers an immediate salutation. Standing in its presence it sucks you in, and when you encounter it for the first time you know you are witnessing something new and distinct from run of the mill housing schemes. How it looks, its relationship to context and its use of materials sets it apart. And much more than this, O’Donnell + Toumey designed homes, the building contains 47 contemporary ‘gaffs’ for families to live in the city.
The internal structure is concrete and is in fact enclosed in a skin of red brick, which flows from the walls down to the paving on the ground. The building’s red brick is set off by timber windows and screens, now grey weathered, adding a tonal quality acknowledging the effective participation of the Irish climate to the look of the building. My appreciation doesn’t end there, with indentations, recesses, external and internal balconies, walls seamlessly flowing from solid matter to voids; the building has achieved simultaneously an openness and an enclosed sense of being.
Impressive stuff, but what I also like, is beyond the material significance, the building connects to a social archaeology. Its name comes from a former use of the site and research unearthed revealed that Rocque’s map dated 1756 shows a timber yard on the site. The building shelters a 20th century Maria Grotto, the ‘Madonna’ was saved from a former site, and given a second life by the architects within the contemporary structure, and this gesture was appreciated by the residences. Another design feature, not by the architects this time, is the appearance of ‘gold leaded lights’ on some of the windows. Certainly not part of the designer’s intention, but this creative action is an indication that people like to make things their own, and I think with a smile, that when they do this they are now at home.
Words: Nathalie Weadick
Nathalie Weadick is Artistic Director and CEO of the Irish Architecture Foundation. “Learning from Buildings” is the theme of Open House Dublin 2014, Ireland’s biggest architecture festival, from 17-19 October. Find out more at www.architecturefoundation.ie
