Architecture Awards 2021

67 2021 Architecture Awards BUILD Best Architectural Design & Master Planning Practice - Republic of Ireland & Best Completed Commercial Architecture Project (Republic of Ireland): The Lennox Building When it comes to looking at the best of what Irish architecture has to offer, there’s little more inspiring than the work of the team at Mahoney Architecture. Under the leadership of sibling team, Paschal Mahoney and Elaine Mahoney-McCabe, the firm has achieved some truly remarkable results. We take a look at one of their latest projects to see how they have achieved such success in the BUILD Architecture Awards. ased in Dublin, Mahoney Architecture has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. With twenty years of knowledge behind them, designing in sectors including workplace, residential, interiors and hospitality to name but a few, this dynamic duo has managed to position themselves in precisely the right place for their latest – and award-winning – project. Every building and place that the Mahoney team are involved in is designed to be entirely unique, while carefully responding to the needs of the client. No two clients are the same, and neither are the designs put together by Mahoney Architecture. Innovation and practical thinking are key aspects of their stunning success. Nowhere is this clearer than with the team’s prize-winning building, The Lennox Building. This commission from Oakmount Developments and Core Capital is made of four storeys spread over 3600m2. As such, it covers an impressive array of different needs. Both offices and restaurants share space at this prominent site at the junction of Lennox Street and South Richmond Street. There was incredible demand for the building, and it was fully leased well before the project was fully completed. The building has been designed to work with the familiar surfaces of the adjacent red-brick terraces of houses, being clad in distinctive black brick so as to reflect the idiosyncratic mixture of shop fronts along South Richmond Street. Mixing these two aspects is no easy feat, yet a delicate and deliberate decision has made it very straight-forward. To the keen observer, one of the most striking aspects of the design is the way in which the façade’s surface fractures and twists out of shape as it rounds the block. This is because the corner on which the building lies is slightly irregular. The result is a series of glass fins, floating gently between bands of cantilevered brick. Lit just so, it’s possible to transform these fins into sharp blades of light. This is an example of the design team’s dazzling and unique statements, which also echo the historic Portobello Gardens which previously occupied the site. B Entering the building, guests are invited into a brave new world. The brick bands opens up into a stunning marble clad lobby with a terrazzo floor that extends beyond the floor-to- ceiling frameless glass walls, as far as the outer edge of the site. The walls in the lobby are clad in book-matched marble slabs, with a view of incredible exposed sandblasted concrete above this level. The rich texture is a welcome contrast to the smooth stone steps and black metal handrails. On each of the upper floors, the lift and stairs are ideally positioned to reveal remarkable views of the city, as well as the Dublin mountains. The design work that the team undertook with this project underscores their entire ethos. Mahoney Architecture has built an approach which embraces what has gone before, but steps boldly into the future with something new. The team are already working on a variety of projects in the workplace, educational and residential sectors, such as the redevelopment of an iconic modernist structure at 12 Dawson Street, a new-build 9 storey office development called The Greenside Building, and a waterfront office development at 73 North Wall Quay. There is astonishing demand for what the team do, because they are so good at it. It’s what has led them to such extraordinary success, and why they will continue to thrive for the months and years to come. Company: Mahoney Architecture Name: Paschal Mahoney Email: pmahoney@mahoneyarchitecture Web Address: www.mahoneyarchitecture.com May21687 Mahoney Architecture