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UCC set a socially considered ethos for the project by seeking a landmark building at this edge of campus & by placing students first. Their research supported the view that intimate households of 4 students improved relationships & made an invisible safety net for students. The architecture underwrites the place of the individual within a community, like an Italian hill town. It is inspired by the towers of San Gimignano. Height was the main planning challenge. Breaking down the massing with 4 slim towers & a double height entrance portal rising off a podium edge which held the streetline, helped mitigate that risk, making an ambitious scheme with varied skyline. Due to proximity of the River Lee, entrance level was set to avoid flood risk, creating a welcoming courtyard.
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We developed a completely SPECIFIC response to PLACE. The site location in the city is unique and demanded a unique response. The Crow’s Nest design is innovative- instead of a perimeter building blocking light, upper levels are carried upwards in slim vertical towers with large cuts for light, air and views. These vertical elements create a serrated skyline in the Cork vernacular, giving meaning, profile and vistas. Living spaces are stacked vertically, respecting existing urban grain and context. Transition of scale to the adjoining buildings is made using a smaller covered entrance gateway to the podium. Private student rooms rise in towers from a podium garden, beneath which ground floor public facilities are accessed via permeable thresholds. A café at the corner enlivens the street.
Crow's Nest is a compact development on a derelict brownfield site, designed to BREEAM Excellent and NZEB. It is BER A2. Due to proximity of River Lee, the entrance level was set 1.25m above street to avoid flood risk. There is rainwater harvesting and SUDS. Crow’s Nest is highly insulated with excellent U values to walls, windows, floors and roofs; double glazing, air source heat pumps, CHP, PV panels, movement-sensitive LEDs, natural ventilation; heat-recovery ventilation & percussive taps. Clay brick as a sustainable and recyclable material is used, together with aluminium cladding and glass to give a carbon footprint reduction at the end of the building’ life. Highly sustainable timber linings are utilised in public spaces. Expansive green planting incorporates biodiversity.
A cluster of towers, inspired by those at San Gimignano, provide student accommodation, social facilities, health centre and café for University College Cork, and activate a new gateway to the city. Student living spaces are stacked vertically, off a raised garden podium, respecting the urban grain and context. Openings between upper towers allow light through the urban block, maintaining impressive vistas to surrounding city and mountains. We placed public-facing facilities are at entrance level - University Heath Centre, Student entrance/reception, with towers of private accommodation rising off the landscaped student podium. Internally, the brief determined small clusters of four students per apartment. Each tower has an economical footprint, with single stairs and lift, two apartments off each core, each level. Each apartment is triple aspect. Each pair of apartments on a floorplate have a kitchen/common room at opposite corners to optimise views. Every corridor has a window at its end. Each bedroom is ensuite. Ground floor common areas include recreation room, music room, study space, laundrette. The gateway to the podium gives students independent access 24/7. An independently operated café at street level corner makes a public space where seating spills out to the pavement. The Health Centre contains consulting rooms, small procedures rooms, meeting space and staff facilities. A daylit, wood-lined reception space welcomes patients as they enter.
UCC as client is very happy with the careful and imaginative use of a very challenging and compact site. It has delivered above our expectations in terms of student bedspace numbers and amenity space. All spaces have been well designed and thoroughly considered to promote student and staff wellbeing. We are very happy with the quality of materials, which sends a message of quality housing and care to our students and their parents.
McCullough Mulvin Architects is a Dublin-based practice. We combine contemporary insight with highly developed conservation skills to create sustainable projects that fully integrate old buildings with new architecture. Our approach is thoughtful, our way of building applicable in any culture and society, with award-winning buildings both in Ireland and internationally.
Together with other long-term collaborators, we work at a range of scales, including cultural buildings, housing projects, hotels, offices, libraries, healthcare, schools and university buildings. We extend our practice through research, writing, films, and exhibitions, exploring the themes that inform our work.
The practice has been acclaimed internationally with awards including recent RIBA International Award for Excellence 2024, Overall Winner of The Plan Awards Italy 2021, DETAIL Readers’ Prize 2020 (Thapar University Learning Laboratory), and World Architecture Festival Finalist 2023 (Printing House Square).
