dublin-based grafton architects has extended the university of limerick across the river shannon with a warm brick cluster of student housing as well as with the slate-colored monumentality of a new medical school. the program also includes a piazza and a bus shelter as part of an overall effort to create easy intersections of public space. learning and living spaces weave together in a masterplan that complements three existing buildings. while over the river the main campus is a decidedly orthogonal grid, the extension favors a more relaxed positioning of the architecture that grows from the physical and cultural environment of a collegiate place. architectonically, the structures prioritize permeability and a gradient of light, bright spaces.

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
image © dennis gilbert (also main image) / all images courtesy of grafton architects

 

 

three dormitories express the visual thickness and warmth of masonry but undermine the stark, rationalist materiality with angled, recessed apertures, lending the building an impressive ability to rhythmically orchestrate light across its faces. with a blue-tinged gray limestone, the medical school employs the same set-back glazing technique albeit more uniformly; however, the heavy, geometric top of the building is visually lightened by the double-height, colonnaded concrete walkway that creates a glazed band on the ground level. the effect is direct, the campus is place of energetic intellectual voraciousness and a space where meandering paths can balance focused study. 

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
angled recesses characterize the glazed apertures
image © dennis gilbert

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
medical school entrance
image © dennis gilbert

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
blue-gray local limestone contrasts with the warm-colored concrete, glass and wood arcade
image © dennis gilbert

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
left: walkway in the medical school
right: pergola bus shelter
image © dennis gilbert

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
the lobby of the medical school is well served by daylight
image © dennis gilbert

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
angled windows, double height spaces and richly grained wood open the space
image © dennis gilbert

 

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
masterplan

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
site plan

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
medical school floor plan / level 0

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
medical school floor plan / level +1

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
medical school floor plan / level +2

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
medical school floor plan / level +3

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
student housing floor plan / level 0

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
student housing floor plan / level +1

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
student housing floor plan / level +2

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
medical school short section

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory

student housing section

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
medical school elevation

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
student housing elevation

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
light study- medical school

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
light study- student housing

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
elevation color diagram- medical school

grafton architects: university of limerick medical school and dormitory
elevation color diagram – student housing

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