A school in Inchicore has been shortlisted for the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture.
A new section of the historic Model School Inchicore, designed by Donaghy and Dimond architects, were among the 40 nominees shortlisted out of a field of 356.
The Mies van der Rohe Award looks for buildings that embody new technologies, techniques and architectural concepts.
From the shortlist, one third tackle contemporary challenges on housing, while others take on contemporary challenges in relation to buildings based around heritage.
The Model School Inchicore was an add-on to the 19th-century school. It provided six new classrooms, a home-school liaison room and support facilities, while increasing the size of the playground in a tight space.
Donaghy and Dimond said they were fortunate to have had a supportive and open-minded community that helped them to turn their plans into a building in the face of a tough economy.
“We hope the new building is worthy of its place beside the original and now conserved Model School from the 1850s. Good clients and appreciative end users such as the school community of the Model enabled the making of a building which we hope will continue to be enjoyed for many years,” said Marcus Donaghy.
Both Marcus Donaghy and William Dimond are lectures of architecture in UCD and
conduct thesis under Continuity and Ecology topics.
“We are always pleased, when revisiting the building, to see the school-life that it hosts, at home in the building and integrated with outdoor spaces, and village beyond,” added Donaghy.
The School also won the ‘Wood Awards Ireland 2016’ for excellence in architectural design and ‘Best Education Building’ in the Irish Architecture Awards in 2015.
The Merrion Cricket Pavilion near Donnybrook, designed by TAKA architects, was also shortlisted. Alice Casey from TAKA Architects said, “We are very pleased to be short-listed for this prestigious award. It is a real honour for a small practice like us. We would like to thank the client, Merrion Cricket Club, for giving us the opportunity and the contractor, M&P Construction.”
The Merrion Cricket club has been around for 100 years. The new pavilion replaced the older building in the 1980’s that was damaged in floods. The club’s new building was highly commended in 2015 by the Royal institute of Architects Ireland.
There were nine nominations from Ireland. The jury comprises architects, sociologists and art historians from across Europe, who will decide the winners of the prize.
“I would want the shortlisted schemes to demonstrate an interest in making places, in exploring convention and known typologies, in celebrating the pleasures of everyday use by a consideration of detail and an unspoken resistance to the current global tendency towards a self-referential architecture, one that belies context and the act of inhabitation,” Stephen Bates, the chairman of the jury said.
The overall winner will receive €60,000, and another building that will get a “special mention” will receive €20,000.
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