Kilmainham Royal Hospital, Dublin, IRELAND
Municipal Crematorium - Columbarium
Kilmainham Royal Hospital was built on the edge of Dublin city, at the junction between the town and the countryside, linking Phoenix Park to its urban environment. With the growth of the city, the grounds of the Royal Hospital were separated from Phoenix Park and became an island of countryside inside an urban context.
The site is imbued with the vocabulary of death, standing as it does between hospitals, military barracks and Kilmainham Goal, with its tragic history. My concept derives from the role the cemetery took on over the years. A descriptive stone placed at the entrance to the burial ground states that the cemetery “contains the remains of monks, knights, princes and Dublin citizens. It was popular with the poor as it was the common ground where burials could be performed without charge”.
The concept therefore consists in creating an egalitarian typology dealing with death, as we all share the same hope having a “good” death. With the Royal Hospital being repurposed into the Museum of Modern Art and the cemetery gradually falling into disuse, the site became a place of contemplation rather than a place of purpose.
My proposal therefore needed to offer an active typology addressing the idea of equality in death, as well as re-establishing the historical connection between Phoenix Park and hospital grounds.
This resulted in the proposal for a Municipal Crematorium. It is designed to engage with the site’s specific context, using the adjacent urban context to handle the private programme for the typology, while the public programme act as a continuation of the landscapes routes.
The scheme also includes an optional Columbarium, the design for which derives from that of the Wellington Monument, the largest obelisk in Europe, which id located in Phoenix Park.
Potato Market, Limerick, IRELAND
Court House
The Potato Market is set at the southern entrance to KIngs Island. The island is sandwiched between the east and west side of Limerick and is the town’s historical centre, with King John’s Castle and St Mary’s Cathedral. Today, the Potato Market is used as a car park for the surrounding buildings.
The market has a linear roof structure, which leans against the retaining wall running the length of George’s Quay. This structure is arranged on two levels: the ground floor, which is now a car park; and the first floor, which runs along the wall, a metre and a half above the ground floor. You enter it from the eastern entrance, at bridge/road level.
The market, which runs from east to west, is bisected by a pedestrian bridge which forms part of the circular walkway looping around Limerick’s river front, connecting King John’s Castle and Thomond Bridge to Sarsfield bridge down the river.
The design strategy was to keep the retaining wall of the market and to build alongside it a structure that would be terminated by two court-rooms at the western end. these courtrooms act as periscopes, looking out over the site’s surroundings - down river the Sartfield Bridge and up river to St Mary’s Cathedral - and tie the building into Limerick’s urban context.
The ground floor contains all the programme’s private elements. The first floor serves the public functions of a courthouse, acting as a public walkway running the length of the building and reconnecting the eastern entrance to the old Potato Market and the circular riverfront walk.
