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Urban Projects, Clarion Quay, Dublin, 2000Looking down Excise Walk to the River Liffey is the social and affordableaccommodation. Orientated north–south, the units face onto Mayor Square. Thedouble-height winter garden access can be seen to the right.

A high-rise housing scheme in Dublin that disperses affordable units in the same blocks asprivately owned apartments, Clarion Quay was planned as a key piece in the city’s docklandsregeneration. As Robert Payne describes, the architects, Urban Projects, chose to elevatethe high-rise as a ‘heroic’ and ‘expressive’ form rather than turning their backs on thebuilding type’s Modernist past.

Clarion Quay

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View into the newly created Excise Walk, looking upfrom the river. It includes retail space at groundlevel with residential accommodation above.Although the height of the development is unusualfor Dublin, the location of the site, in the heart ofthe city and adjacent to the river, made it suitablefor the programme.

Ireland’s membership of the EuropeanUnion, alongside a prosperous economyand a young population, has led to thereinvigoration of its major urban nodes,not least of which is the capital, Dublin.The city had, for many years, slowlydeclined and with this enthusiasm forrenewal has come the opportunity toredevelop and regenerate several largebrownfield sites in the heart of theurban fabric.

The Dublin Docklands DevelopmentAuthority (DDDA) was founded in 1997 toregenerate 520 hectares (1285 acres) ofland on the banks of the River Liffeybetween the centre of Dublin and theIrish Sea. This land had fallen intodisuse following the introduction ofcontainerised sea traffic, and theconstruction of new handling facilitiescloser to the mouth of the river. Withthe city centre nearby, and an extensivesouthern frontage to the river, the landpresented an opportunity to evolve atype of urbanisation new to Dublin.

The proximity of areas of socialdeprivation, directly to the north of thedevelopment area, made the inclusion ofsocial and affordable housing anessential part of the project from theoutset. Earlier regeneration projectswhere the River Liffey passes throughthe city centre had proved less thansuccessful because they neitheraddressed the need to create a diverse,and sustainable, social mix norconfronted the massing and scale issuesdemanded by the width of the river atthis point.

The first master plan prepared by theDDDA sought to reverse thisunsatisfactory pattern by proposing amixed development, including housing,of which 20 per cent was to bedesignated as social and affordable.Quality of design was a fundamentalparameter of the master plan and toachieve this, in 1998 the DDDA

announced an architectural competitionfor a new public square and streetconnecting it to the river that wouldform the centrepiece of the regenerationproject. The competition was won by

Urban Projects, a consortium of like-minded architectural practicescomprising Derek Tynan Architects,McGarry Ní Éanaigh Architects andGerry Cahill Architects.

Although the winning scheme madeproposals for both sides of the newpublic square and street, Urban Projectswas appointed only to design its westernhalf; the eastern half was passed to anumber of corporate practices to bedeveloped as a hotel and third-levelcollege.

The final design closely follows thewinning competition entry. Itcomprises two parts: a plinthsurmounted by towers running alongthe new street, Excise Walk, betweenthe River Liffey and the new publicspace, Mayor Square; and three slabblocks arranged around a gardencourtyard that is open to the south.Unlike in the UK, there is next to notradition of high-rise social housing inIreland. Consequently, this form is notassociated with failed ideals andeconomic deprivation in the same wayas on Ireland’s island neighbour.Indeed, it was seen as appropriate forthe context of the site due to itslocation in the heart of the city and asa response to the width of the river itsits beside.

Two of the blocks are orientatedeast–west and contain units for sale.The third block faces north–south andhouses the social and affordable units.To preserve a 19th-century remnant ofthe docklands architecture, which hasbeen converted into a bar, thenorth–south block stands back fromMayor Street, the main circulationspine and shopping street of theregeneration zone. While it does notenjoy views of the river, this blockoccupies the prime position in the newgarden courtyard where it faces southand contains a double-height ground-floor crèche, which opens into thecourtyard. The architects were keenthat this outside space would supportmature trees. For this reason, it isfounded on ‘real ground’: underground

car parking is limited to the basementsof the slab blocks.

The towers mentioned above rise tonine storeys, but are not described here,as they contain neither social noraffordable units. However, their heroicand innovative qualities extend to thedesign of the slab blocks as well. Thenorth–south block, which contains thesocial and affordable housing, is sevenstoreys high, a scale appropriate to itsriverside location.

From the start, both the DDDA andUrban Projects agreed that the socialand affordable element of the schemeshould be identical in form, spatialarrangement and materials to theunits for sale. Of the 183 unitseventually constructed, 37, or 20 percent, were to be handed over oncompletion to be managed by ahousing association selected through atendering process. (The density of thescheme is 291 units per hectare,greatly in excess of the maximumdensity of 200 units per hectareprevailing in the city at the time.)

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The four blocks of Clarion Quay, both the privately owned and socialapartments, all look onto and share the central garden space.

In Ireland, social and affordable unitsare generally concentrated in stand-alone blocks rather than beingdispersed through their host projects,to simplify management and minimiseservice charges. Looking at the insidefirst, there are five types of units, all ofwhich enjoy a dual aspect, with

bedrooms overlooking the main streetto the north, and all living roomsfacing the garden courtyard to thesouth. Nearly half of the units are two-storey, or ‘duplex’ units. The one-bedroom and duplex units have narrowfrontages; the two- and three-bedroomsingle-storey units are wider, the

former having single-aspect livingrooms and the latter enjoying dual-aspect ones, running the full depth ofthe block. All living rooms havebalconies behind the plane of theexternal walls to shelter them from theprevailing southwesterly wind, which isfelt most acutely near the river.

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At ground level, reasonably sized private terraces give onto the centralcourtyard. Above, balconies allow occupants of the remaining flats to enjoythe communal area.

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To counter any association with the poor quality of deck access in previoussocial housing developments, high-standard materials and glazed weatherscreens have been used. The height of the access reflects the type of unitsthe walkway serves – double-height for duplex apartments, single for one-storey apartments.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing and largesliding doors connect the inside andoutside in a very direct way. Theinteriors of the units are finished to ahigh standard – identical to thatprovided in the units for sale. Theyinclude ‘pod’ bathrooms and kitchens,prefabricated in Italy, and hardwoodwindows and external doors. All of theunits are wired for a range of electronicservices, including cable television,which is universally provided in Dublin,and broadband.

Vertical circulation to the units islocated in two cores, each containing alift and stairs. Horizontal circulation isprovided either directly from a lobby ateach level or via two ‘winter gardens’ –external access decks that are partiallyshielded from the weather by glazing.Each winter garden is a short dead-endserving no more than five units. Theyare one or two storeys high, dependingon whether they serve single-storey orduplex units. Both are paved with smallconcrete slabs and panelled inhardwood sheeting. The changes inheight and the selection of finishesdispel any association with access deckscommonly used in the city’s stock ofsocial apartments.

It is in the organisation of thescheme that the heroic aspects of thedesign – those associated with theprecedents of internationalModernism– are most evident, in theorientation of the living spacestowards the sun and the view of thegarden, and in the adoption of aduplex section for nearly half of theunits. The innovative aspects of thedesign can be found in itsconstruction, in particular the use ofprefabricated service elements – a newtechnology in Ireland when thebuilding was constructed.

Outside, the heroic aspect of thedesign is more rhetorical. Here, thereare streets in the air, floating planes,ribbon windows and a deployment ofmaterials, such as brick, timber andglass, in forms that emphasise theirroles as cladding rather than structure.

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Internally, the quality of the materials specifiedreflects the care taken throughout the project. Theapartments are orientated to face south whereverpossible so as to maximise sun and daylight.

This rhetoric is well judged. UrbanProjects must have been aware whendesigning a project in the very centreof the regeneration zone that it wouldbe unable to exert control overadjoining plots that were yet to bedeveloped. Equally, the architects musthave been able to predict the sort ofcorporate architectural expression thatwas likely to follow.

They have therefore taken the normsof this corporate expression and

reinvigorated it with the characteristicsof early Modernism from which itderives, such as the streets in the airand the ribbon windows alreadymentioned. But they have gone a stepfurther. They have combined the streetin the air and the ribbon window tocreate a new kind of ambiguous indoor-–outdoor space: the winter garden. Andthen they have selected a yellowmachine-made brick: crisp and modern,certainly, but also referring by means ofits colour to the local stock ‘grey’ bricksof which the docklands were built.

Next, they have wrapped the top ofthe building in timber, detailing it notin the homely way of much currenthousing design, but in finelydimensioned strips, almost like metalcladding. Finally, there is the gardencourtyard. Already, after only a fewyears of occupation, this feels like a‘place’, justifying the determination ofthe architects to make the garden onreal ground.

On their completion in 2000, thesocial and affordable units wereallocated to candidates on the housingwaiting list of the local authority,Dublin City Council, in accordance with

established procedures. Unusually, CluidHousing Association, a branch of the StPancras Housing Association, whichmanages the block, was not involved inthe design process. The perceived luxuryof the development, the generous spacestandards that exceed norms for socialand affordable housing by 20 per cent,and the involvement of the tenants inthe maintenance to encourageparticipation and reduce servicecharges, have all helped to forge asettled and contented community. Aftera number of years of occupation it isevident that the simplicity of the designand the robustness of the constructionhave contributed to this, not least bymaking maintenance easy.

While it may be a pioneering project,Clarion Quay is not a hesitant one. Thedirectness of its external expressionestablishes a scale and massingappropriate to the width of the river, incritical contrast to the earlierdevelopments upstream: its assuredspace-making means that both thegarden courtyard at ground level andthe winter gardens as culs-de-sac in theair have made clear from the start howthey are to be used and where theboundaries lie between public andprivate space. And the ingenuity of theinternal planning has given alloccupants, both owners and tenants, asense of generosity and privacy,paradoxically within the framework ofincreased density.

Clarion Quay exhibits a confidencethat raises the spirit of anyone whovisits the project, whether professionalor layperson, and points clearly to thefuture direction of social and affordablehousing in the context of urbanregeneration in Ireland. 4+

Robert Payne studied at University CollegeDublin from 1977 to 1982. Having worked withArup Associates and Allies and Morrison inLondon, he founded Cullen Payne Architectswith Brian Cullen in 1994, winning aninternational competition for the Institute ofMaterial Sciences at Trinity College thefollowing year. He teaches at a number ofschools of architecture and contributes tojournals both in the UK and abroad.

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