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ALEXANDRA WALK
at Adelaide Square
Whitefriar Street, Dublin 8
2003 – 2006
Client: Benton Property Holding Ltd
Structural Consultants: Walsh Goodfellow
Mechanical & Electrical Consultants:
Dervan Engineering Consultants Ltd.
Quantity Surveyors:
Michael Hickey & Associates
Contractors:
Laing O’Rourke
Accomodation 40 Apartments with crèche and basement car parking
Alexandra Walk is an urban residential development that is designed to maximise sunlight by giving every living room of every apartment a southerly aspect and a generous south facing balcony. The development also explores the provision of dual aspect apartments.
To achieve this, internal corridors have been eliminated and the number of apartments per lift/staircore has been limited to three 2-bedroom apartments and one 1-bedroom apartment. The one bedroom apartment has a totally southern aspect.
The development sits on the site of an old industrial warehouse between the recently completed residential development, Adelaide Square, on the site of the old Adelaide Hospital (carried out by this office for the same developer) and a local authority residential development built in the 1960’s. Prior to the redevelopment of the Adelaide Square this area was ‘backlands’, at the rear of the old hospital. Now, along with Adelaide Square, this has presented a great opportunity to complete a new public square.
The main elevation fills the remaining gap in Whitefriar Street. It is articulated to respond to the developments on either side; render and steel respond to Adelaide Square and brick relates to the local authority development on the other side.
The south elevation is made up of a steel matrix of the generous balconies attached to each apartment.
This elevation is articulated by three vertical brick entrance elements which reduce the scale of the development and respond to the landscaped south facing garden. The elevation at the rear responds to the geometry of McDonagh House and completes the interior courtyard of that development. The location of a crèche on the ground floor fronting onto Whitefriar Street adds to the street elevation while the playgrounds at the basement level maintain a secure outdoor environment for the children.
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