Category Archives: News

DLR Red Jetty is the winner of ‘Best Public Space’ for 2018 at the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards. A2 previously won ‘Best Public Space’ for 2014 with Granby Park in Dublin City Centre.

The jetty is currently located in Bracken Road in Sandyford Industrial Estate and will return to DLR LexIcon Moran Park later this Autumn for children’s workshops as part of Open House Dublin (12th-14th October)

PROJECT TEAM: A2 Architects + Alan Meredith Studio
CLIENT: DLR Architects Dept. and DLR Parks Dept, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council supported by Creative Ireland

Odyssey : Oiza / Oteiza, A2’s installation in ‘Close Encounter – Meetings with Remarkable Buildings’at Venice Architecture Biennale 2018.

A2 were one of sixteen Irish practices invited to participate in this exhibition by the Curators Grafton Architects. Our proposal is an abstracted representation of the Fundación Oteiza in Alzuzu, Navarra, Spain – a building that A2 were nominated. Our proposal is the outcome of an iterative exploration of the shared work of architect Javier Sáenz De Oíza and sculptor Jorge Oteiza.

Our process began with a painting Oteiza frequently referenced, ‘The Battle of San Romano’ by Paulo Uccello c.1435-1460, where a shielded contender is placed within an epic landscape of travel and metaphysics. The portrait contains many themes: covering, lines, journey, metaphysics, destiny, arms, contest, action and narrative.

A series of model studies of Oteiza’s work followed – a taxonomy of Oteiza’s quest to render visible emptiness – empty space. Oteiza sets out to make these sharp and silent, vigilant and empty. A suite of 15 models are contained within the installation to illustrate this quest. In their successive states they can be seen to mutate with absolute autonomy, like an animate being. Theses works are living artefacts; protective and defensive instruments. In parallel with this A2 were concerned with how Oíza controls light to form atmosphere; how he sets up relationships with Oteiza’s work and how he guides movement.

A2 propose a fundamentally spatial and energetic artifact that has darkness and mystery at its core. We wish to explore this circulatory or in-between space of the foundation building – indirect light, inclined ramped circulation; central darkness of the Main Hall; and finally inclined roof-lit galleries above. To make this manifest, we propose to enclose an ‘external dark space’ within an inside layered space to explore the gap between, thickness, depth and intimacy.

Dún Laoghaire Baths Complex Redevelopment (DLR Architects Dept.: Design Architects / A2 Architects: Enabling Architects) begins on site. Works include a public promenade on two levels, a sea-level platform, a new jetty, cafe, exhibition space, artists studios, lifeguard station, public toilets, lockers and changing rooms. SIAC-Mantovani JV have been appointed main contractors for the project.

Gabled brickwork of rapid delivery housing at George’s Place, Dun Laoghaire (DLR Architects Dept.: Design Architects / A2 Architects: Enabling Architects) due for completion this June.

A2 Architects are honoured to be invited for the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2018 curated by Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects. A2 are one of seventeen Irish practices to explore a seminal project, in this case Museo-Fundación Oteiza in Alzuzu, Spain, as part of ‘Close Encounter – Meetings with Remarkable Projects’. The exhibition opens to the public this 26th May for six months.

Illuminated external signage is added as part of refurbishment works at Tralee Garda Station on behalf of The Office of Public Works. Works include a new public reception and immigration area, prisoner processing suite, office space, changing and locker facilities as well as universal access and fire upgrade works throughout.

Sanded forecourt to 10no. A-rated BER 1bed apartments in The Brambles in Glenageary, Co. Dublin for Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLR Architects Dept.: Design Architects / A2 Architects: Enabling Architects)

A Douglas Fir timber clad return is added to a refurbished Georgian three-storey terraced house over a garden level apartment on Rathmines Road, Dublin. A circular bathroom window atop the return enjoys distant views of Dublin Bay beyond. An in situ concrete base is added as a socle to the base of the timber cladding that skirts the first floor external terrace and ends with a stairs to the garden.

A2 are delighted to have been awarded 2nd place in The Morrison’s Island International Design Competition in Cork City. Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects, Chair of the Jury, cited as follows:

‘This elegant and intelligent proposal named: PoroCity, considered Morrison’s Island in its totality, as defined by the River Lee on two sides and the South Mall on the remaining side. The strength of this proposal is that it imagines a holistic, integrated solution where architecture, engineering and landscape design overlap to form a coherent strategy. It envisages the cooperation of various stakeholders in the area, where gardens, pools and open spaces offer a new public network for the citizens to enjoy, as well as providing a system of soakage areas and swales intended to deal with excess water at critical times. The Jury found this integrated approach to be an important and meaningful addition to the discussion of urban flooding and future strategies.’

A2 are invited by St. Munchin’s Trust to design a new community park for Corbally in Limerick City. The brief includes an all-weather pitch, running track, grass sports pitch, basketball courts, skateboard park, changing facilities, a local Mens’ Shed, seating, lighting and landscaping.