Academic debate: this extension to UCD's microbiology department is a rational cube that reworks the campus object building.Founded in the mid-nineteenth century as the Catholic University of Ireland CUI redirects here. For other meanings of CUI see CUI (disambiguation) The Catholic University of Ireland (Irish: Ollscoil Chaitliceach na hÉireann)[1][2][3] , University College Dublin (UCD UCD University College Dublin UCD User-Centered Design UCD University of California at Davis UCD University of Colorado at Denver (Denver, CO) UCD University of Colorado at Denver UCD Unicode Character Database ) was first established in the heart of Dublin overlooking St Stephen's Green St. Stephen's Green (Irish: Faiche Stiabhna) is an inner-city public park in Dublin, Ireland. The park is within the city centre, adjoining the nearby shopping area of Grafton Street. . Famous alumni include Gerard Manley Hopkins Noun 1. Gerard Manley Hopkins - English poet (1844-1889) Hopkins and James Joyce. During the 1960s, the university decamped to a suburban greenfield site at Belfield, to the south of the city centre. Over time the campus has evolved and expanded, adding new faculty buildings, student residences and recreational facilities. With 10 faculties, 80 departments and a student body of 22 000, UCD is now the largest university in Ireland. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One of the most recent campus additions is McCullough Mulvin's extension to the Virus Reference Laboratory (VRL VRL Vlaamse Reumaliga Vzw VRL Vijayanand Roadlines Ltd (India) VRL Virtual Research Library VRL Variance Residual Life VRL Vision Resources Library ). Affiliated with the university's Department of Medical Microbiology, the VRL provides a national diagnostic virology virology, study of viruses and their role in disease. Many viruses, such as animal RNA viruses and viruses that infect bacteria, or bacteriophages, have become useful laboratory tools in genetic studies and in work on the cellular metabolic control of gene expression service for Ireland, as well as undertaking research and issuing regular publications. The new building slots into a tight site between the main VRL laboratory and Ardmore House on the upper part of the campus. Though small in scale, the project plays a significant role in consolidating the relationship between the central buildings and the surrounding landscape, and, in particular, the lake directly below it. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Conceived both as a place of work and social interaction, the project is one of a series of new pavilions designed to support and challenge the notion of architecture in the landscape that informed UCD's orginal development in the 1960s. More specifically, it is clearly an object building in the greenfield campus tradition, but is also concerned with connecting with its surroundings and creating a sense of place. The main public frontage is defined by a triangular, rock-studded parvis par·vis n. 1. An enclosed courtyard or space at the entrance to a building, especially a cathedral, that is sometimes surrounded by porticoes or colonnades. 2. One of the porticoes or colonnades surrounding such a space. while the inner edge encloses a small garden landscaped in an artfully minimal Japanese style, creating a peaceful haven for contemplation. With its lightweight skin and simple geometry, the new building forms an expressive contrast with its more leaden brick and stone-clad campus counterparts. Facades are wrapped in a taut skin of interlocking interlocking /in·ter·lock·ing/ (-lok´ing) closely joined, as by hooks or dovetails; locking into one another. interlocking Obstetrics A rare complication of vaginal delivery of twins; the 1st and overlapping panels of glass and Western red cedar Western red cedar: see juniper, arborvitae. which project and recede from the main surface plane. The cedar will weather to a delicate silvery grey, but the light has a slightly different effect on the vertical and horizontal boards, so that the skin will eventually resemble a piece of worn fabric with subtly contrasting textures. Extended parapets give the building muscular, cube-like, proportions. The plan is elegantly economical, with offices on the upper floor and a laboratory, canteen and meeting room at ground level, with access to the courtyard garden. In abstract, the plan resembles a simple unicellular unicellular /uni·cel·lu·lar/ (-sel´u-ler) made up of a single cell, as the bacteria. u·ni·cel·lu·lar adj. Having or consisting of a single cell, as the protozoans; one-celled. organism, with a coloured circulation core as its nucleus. The free-standing, sky-blue core can be glimpsed as you move through the building and a canted link corridor connects the new extension with the main laboratory. The linking arm also functions as an entrance hall. UCD'S evolving campus can, perhaps, be compared to a 40 year conversation, with new members joining in and adding to the growing dialogue. McCullough Mulvin's modest yet intelligently judged contribution adds to the richness of this academic debate. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Architect McCullough Mulvin Architects, Dublin Structural engineer Thomas Garland & Partners Services engineer UCD Buildings Services Department Photographs Christian Richters LABORATORY, DUBLIN, IRELAND ARCHITECT MCCULLOUGH MULVIN ARCHITECTS |
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