The largest higher-education campus development ever undertaken in Ireland, the Grangegorman master plan for a northern suburb of Dublin was a collaboration between Santa Monica, Calif.–based Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners (MRY) and locally based DMOD Architects. The project will accommodate 4.5 million square feet of academic and residential buildings for the Dublin Institute of Technology, replacement psychiatric and new primary-care facilities for Ireland’s national healthcare service, as well as new amenities for the larger community.
Jury: “This project presents an impressively comprehensive approach to site planning, with clear and systematic design strategies. … The sense of transparency both within the new buildings and through the interstitial public space is impressive.”
Client: “MRY did a really good design on the public realm and created an urban feel to the campus’s main pedestrian areas. The location of the student accommodation across the campus, as well as in courtyards, creates an urban feel with lights on at night, and shops and cafés at ground level. The pedestrian areas create vibrant street activity. At present, a large wall surrounds the site and there is a single entry point. MRY has opened up the site and linked it into the city. In doing so, they created a new destination.” —Noel O’Connor, director of Students Services, Dublin Institute of Technology
