AAI Site Visit: DCU Polaris Building

PPE is not required at the site visit but visitors are advised to dress appropriately

Meeting Point : Outside Main Entrance of DCU Polaris Building, DCU Glasnevin Campus, Dublin

Description:

The Polaris Building is a landmark building that marks the entrance to the DCU Glasnevin campus, providing modern teaching and research facilities for generations of DCU students. The building is 5 storey (9140 sqm floor area) accommodating general teaching, health and human performance, stem and administration, comprising exercise studio, research and teaching laboratories, information technology suites, general teaching spaces, staff and subject area offices.

External works include upgrade to landscaping to full perimeter of building consisting hard landscaping, plant beds, trees and external furniture.

Polaris is designed as an immersive eco-system that actively breaks down boundaries, sparking collaboration across subjects and between groups, inside and outside the university. Active learning spaces like the planned Industry Robotics Lab and Immersive Visualisation Suite will help students collaborate with industry and peers from around the world, while on-site STEM outreach programmes will help local students explore STEM options at third level.

This project has been a collaboration between Mullarkey Pedersen Architects and Sheppard Robson Architects

Architects' Statement:

Mullarkey Pedersen Architects: is a design led partnership committed to meeting their clients' needs and objectives to produce quality design solutions. We consider ourselves as advocates for design that is firmly rooted in ESG: Environmental, Social, Governance. Our ESG ethos is designed around a set of high standards that apply across all aspects of our practice.

This is achieved by considering every aspect of design in detail with the client and creating excellent working relationships with consultants, contractors and investors in a collaborative manner with our highly skilled design team.

Mullarkey Pedersen Architects provide both Architectural Services and Passive House Designer services.

Our success in this field has resulted in winning the prestigious 2022 Irish Building & Design Award for Sustainable Project of the Year, in recognition of our achievements at Erne Campus, Enniskillen, for South West College.

Sheppard Robson Architects: We are a practice of detailed design specialists, bringing together architects, interior designers and technologists to deliver projects while uncovering hidden potential and new possibilities. We draw upon the depth and breadth of the wider Sheppard Robson team of 370 architects, interiors designers, technologists, and support staff. This capacity allows us to carefully build a team around the specific characteristics of a project and is particularly beneficial when asked to start projects at short notice.

Sustainable innovation is a founding principle of the practice, and is fully integrated into our designs and business processes. Our sustainable design process is not limited to targeting specific green credentials, but instead pushes the boundaries of performance and efficiency of the built environment.