ILLUMINATION!
In typography the «Counter» is the space contained by letters (this is where monkish Irish Illuminators famously had space to play). For the monks, the space between the letters was as meaningful as the letters themselves.
In «Counterspace» the linear forms of the traditional rows are transformed and interwoven to create a range of counterspaces: from enclosed collective space for safe childrens play, to urban plaza for adults lattés. Just like on the 19th century street of industrial terraced Dublin, the life of the community happens in the space between the rows of housing, in the counterspace.
The site has two edges: an urban (read waterfront/industrial) and a suburban to the south. The scale and form of the proposed forms is in response to this change of scale from the house to the crane. Each slinky linear form acts as a stitch between the two scales.
THE NEXT GENERATION ROWHOUSE
The new housing typology exaggerates the existing characteristics of the slender row-house form, the stair, the chimney, and the elongated garden, arriving at a unit with a very specific identity emerging out of its very functional parts.
Shimney: Aside from continuing the profile of the existing housing rows, and giving a nod to the doclands aesthetic, the always-south-oriented-and-45-degree-tilted solar chimney («shimney») has three functions: 1. It houses solar panels which provide enough energy for one household. 2. The interior periscope, visible as one ascends the stair, allows a constant but inverted view of Fairview Park and reminds of the adjacent resource, and 3. Its north-facing vent (facing away from prevailing south-west wind) stimulates natural ventilation.
Autore
About Author
