Europan Competition, Housing and Community Center, Dublin, Ireland, 2010
WINNER
CounterSpace repurposes familiar elements from the local industrial row-housing and weaves together new rows which exaggerate those characteristics: the stair, the chimney, and the elongated garden. Though familiar forms persist, their function is changed: for example, in addition to continuing the profile of the existing housing rows, the “shimney” has two functions: 1. it houses solar panels which provide enough energy for one household per year and 2. the interior periscope, visible as one ascends the stair, allows a constant but inverted view of Fairview Park and reminds of the adjacent resource, and the private roof garden.
The slinky linear forms stitch between the scale of suburban housing and the more robust scale of the urban-industrial-park landscape to the north. The public spaces expand outwards into the street, the river-walk and across the river to the park, re-defining the connection between the two sides and enlivening the riverfront.
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