The Ormond Building

The building occupies a long-derelict 'island site' on Ormond Quay, close to the Four Courts and opposite the Dublin City Council Civic Offices. The inspiration for the form of the building is drawn from its immediate urban context. The challenge was to take the difficult and essentially prosaic speculative office briefing and create a significant building that would maintain the 'ordinary' character, scale and materials of the buildings prevalent along the extended Liffey promenade. Particular emphasis was placed on how the building should address the Liffey. This façade is divided into two sections, influenced by the scale of the existing urban form and the desire for a balanced proportion. Each section is treated in architectural contrast to the other; the face of the eastern section is comprised of a stone frame of columns and beams and the face of the western section is comprised of a stone solid punctured with openings, all seemingly random.