Central Library and Culture Center

Dun Laoghaire - Dublin, Ireland

in cooperation with Prof. Sill Architekten

The project for the Dun Laoghaire Library and Cultural Centre occupies an exciting space between the traditional and the modern. Both new and existing constructions form a municipal ensemble which links the building styles of epochs and centuries. It enriches the architectonic variety of the city. With regard to its dimensions, the new library and cultural centre is embedded in the surrounding city landscape.
The spatial concept has the terracing of areas as its theme. Moran Park and Haigh Terrace are connected to the port area via a newly-added "green ramp" sloping unhurriedly down to the water

The facades of the library and cultural centre employ elements, colouring and the small-town dimensions typical of Dun Laoghaire. The new construction displays the link with historical context by using materials typical of the locality.
The traditional jointing pattern of Irish brickwork serves as a basis for the formation of the facades. The combination of mural work and glass elements creates a "pixel structure", thereby generating a modern, contemporary facade. Because the point of origin of the structure is displayed in a distinguishable way, the process of transformation, the synthesis of local mural brickwork combined with glass elements, is rendered comprehensible to the observer. The liberal distribution of glass panes to a strictly-ordered principle makes for a very expressive and vivid appearance.
The same stone, used for centuries to build the piers, becomes, in the Library and Cultural centre,  an iconographic portrayal of historical mural masonry.