We were asked to re-organise this existing Business School located on the first floor of a 1980s block in a third level campus. The existing rooms were poorly organised and inflexible; circulation was via dead-end corridors deprived of light. In addition, the existing lecture rooms on the floor below required extensive ducts to penetrate the plan in obstructive locations.
To minimise initial cost and disruption, our strategy proposed forming a cranked central wall linking and concealing the ventilation ducts and forming an expanding circulation space terminating in views to the wider campus. The circulation area provides informal spaces for idea-exchange and collaboration; rooflights are opened overhead, window sills lowered and ceilings stripped out to create a dynamic and contemporary business environment. Classrooms can be combined using folding partitions to create much larger rooms allowing use as function rooms or exam halls.
In the end, the Business School found themselves not only with more classrooms than before, but larger classrooms with flexible room layouts and vibrant circulation areas.
*project completed as de Siún Scullion Architects / www.dssa.ie
