expanded portfolio - dun laoghaire library & cultural centre
DESCRIPTION
The design intent of this centre was to recapture the heart of this community, by creating a destination that would bring people together to experience the library in as much as each other. Plush landscaped areas, semi-enclosed spaces, and secluded fragments provide a variety of ways for occupants to explore their surroundings. Three giant sail like facades recalling the harbor, and history of this seaport as they peal away from the building creating different layers of visual exposure, texture, and depth from the lawn below. Wind turbines are used between the sails to capture prominent windward movements.TRANSCRIPT
DUN LAOGHAIRE
IRISH SEA
CELTIC DEEP
DUBLIN BAY
DUBLINDUN LAOGHAIRE
INTRODUCTION:
The voyage begins when we enter the world upon which our ephemeral hour glass has been turned, and it is at that point were we must choose to run before we have even begun to crawl or fade into the distance as we watch the moments dissipate like the youth under the furrow of our eyes, and the light trembles to darkness. We are dreamers, and skeptics, but open to the reality that dreams can and do come true, seldom as we believe. We are mesmer-ized by our own thoughts, so much so that they engulf and twist our livelihood to the point of disillusion where truth and fiction intersect.
The book is an extension for us to interact within this realm.
This building should be the realm were the book and the human intersect to fabricate the dream, and encourage the passage to reality. The proposal for the Library and Cultural Centre at Dun Laoghaire is founded on the premise that we can and still do dream. The physical structure is the platform for all those who are open to such a thought.
DUN LAOGHAIRE
SITE PLAN
PORTFOLIO OF: Charles M. Romero, RA, NCARB
below grade_parking
c vertical circulation (main)1 car park
3rd level
c vertical circulation (main)13 staff work rooms14 administrative offices15 process room16 seating & periodicals17 adult lending18 study & research19 reserve book stack
4th level
20 library headquarters21 science22 children & half size23 music & dvd’s
5th level_roof garden
24 artist residence25 administrative offices26 local history27 europe & other regions
1st level_bowling green
c vertical circulation (main)2 workshop/studio
2nd level_pedestrian strip
c vertical circulation (main)3 translators4 cafe5 entry porter6 bookstore7 readers assistance8 clock display9 exhibition space10 poetry11 art gallery12 multicultural area
vehicular traffic
reflection pond
bowling green park
12
7
ENTRY654
C3
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ENTRY
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CC
below grade_parking
c vertical circulation (main)1 car park
3rd level
c vertical circulation (main)13 staff work rooms14 administrative offices15 process room16 seating & periodicals17 adult lending18 study & research19 reserve book stack
4th level
20 library headquarters21 science22 children & half size23 music & dvd’s
5th level_roof garden
24 artist residence25 administrative offices26 local history27 europe & other regions
1st level_bowling green
c vertical circulation (main)2 workshop/studio
2nd level_pedestrian strip
c vertical circulation (main)3 translators4 cafe5 entry porter6 bookstore7 readers assistance8 clock display9 exhibition space10 poetry11 art gallery12 multicultural area
vehicular traffic
reflection pond
bowling green park
12
7
ENTRY654
C3
8
9
1110
ENTRY
1
14
13
C
16
15
19
20
C
21
23
C
2425
26
27
22
18
17
2
CC
below grade_parking
c vertical circulation (main)1 car park
3rd level
c vertical circulation (main)13 staff work rooms14 administrative offices15 process room16 seating & periodicals17 adult lending18 study & research19 reserve book stack
4th level
20 library headquarters21 science22 children & half size23 music & dvd’s
5th level_roof garden
24 artist residence25 administrative offices26 local history27 europe & other regions
1st level_bowling green
c vertical circulation (main)2 workshop/studio
2nd level_pedestrian strip
c vertical circulation (main)3 translators4 cafe5 entry porter6 bookstore7 readers assistance8 clock display9 exhibition space10 poetry11 art gallery12 multicultural area
vehicular traffic
reflection pond
bowling green park
12
7
ENTRY654
C3
8
9
1110
ENTRY
1
14
13
C
16
15
19
20
C
21
23
C
2425
26
27
22
18
17
2
CC
below grade_parking
c vertical circulation (main)1 car park
3rd level
c vertical circulation (main)13 staff work rooms14 administrative offices15 process room16 seating & periodicals17 adult lending18 study & research19 reserve book stack
4th level
20 library headquarters21 science22 children & half size23 music & dvd’s
5th level_roof garden
24 artist residence25 administrative offices26 local history27 europe & other regions
1st level_bowling green
c vertical circulation (main)2 workshop/studio
2nd level_pedestrian strip
c vertical circulation (main)3 translators4 cafe5 entry porter6 bookstore7 readers assistance8 clock display9 exhibition space10 poetry11 art gallery12 multicultural area
vehicular traffic
reflection pond
bowling green park
12
7
ENTRY654
C3
8
9
1110
ENTRY
1
14
13
C
16
15
19
20
C
21
23
C
2425
26
27
22
18
17
2
CC
LIBRARY & CULTURAL CENTRE, DUN LAOGHAIRE, IRELAND_2007Client: Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County CouncilSize: €35,000,000 (unbuilt), 7,688 m2
Role: Co-Designer, Graphics
DESCRIPTION:
The scheduled program area of 7,688 m2 includes, a central library, cultural centre, and support facilities. From the site a twenty minute rail ride north to Dublin or speed ferries provide adjacent access to the site. The objective of the central library is to provide specialty resources on local history, heritage, music, arts, science as well as similar subjects of European regions in order to dispense and encourage education and social inclusion. The focus of the multi-cultural centre will be to draw attractions centered around local as well as multi-ethnic activities year round.
The site beckons a strong connection with the ocean and the wind that speak to the history of this locale. Dun Laoghaire harbor is the gateway to the city from the water, and to the south the library awaits the wind and the body that choose to enter.
The ocean and wind are ageless elements, the design for the Library and Cul-tural Centre responds by welcoming, succumbing to, enforcing, and swooning with these elements like the sails of a ship at sea. These gestures become the building’s essence for the human experience and creates the opportunity to augment life through dreaming, feeling, and interacting. The experience should spawn physical and emotional awakening.
PORTFOLIO OF: Charles M. Romero, RA, NCARB
Sail 1,
the page furthest to the west, is composed of a steel mesh, and it is used to harness the wind’s energy, much like that of any sea-goers vessel. Vertically oriented wind turbines are held within yet are visible through the mesh. The kinetic activity creates movement that expresses an observational facade that visually explains the technology used. This sail is elevated 6.5 metres above the ground on the bowling green side, that provides sun shading during summer months to the reading rooms within, and acts as a screen to display movies and im-ages on the metal mesh when viewed from the adjacent green.
Sail 2,
moves one page to the east, its glass facade becomes the envelope of the main library. Reading rooms held within are protected from the elements, but are still exposed visually to the green below, the ocean’s surface beyond and the wind turbines directly outside.
Sail 3,
a curved concrete form within the building, creates a dividing line between the reading rooms and library stacks. It is the structural segment that allows Sail 1 to float out and above the green. The con-crete sail completes the transition from transparent to opaque, outside to the inside of the building.
Sail 4,
the form of the library’s eastern wall embraces the current elevation change from the bowling green to Haigh Terrace. The earth’s soft curve moves upward and a glass wall grows out of this, continuing up to the roof level. This curve moves gently towards the southwest, leading visitors to another major library entry.
FACADE DESIGNPORTFOLIO OF: Charles M. Romero, RA, NCARB
FROM THE
G R E E N
PORTFOLIO OF: Charles M. Romero, RA, NCARB
EPILOG:
We enter this space, and immediately engage each other by proximity, and a shared desire to seek depth in a sea of knowledge. The ideas and thoughts exchanged through literature, our life experiences, our backgrounds, technology and so much more are manifested in places that give us this opportunity. The design of the Dun Laoghaire Library and Cultural Centre was cultivated on these principals. The life of the city in motion, the sway and bloom of the wind that activates the turbines, the force and aroma of the ocean, all work to reinforce the stories of past and present written in the books contained within, and allows the dream of the future to unfold page after page.
PORTFOLIO OF: Charles M. Romero, RA, NCARB