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Narrows and Knots

Part 2 Project 2015
Alice Nickell
 Queen's University Belfast | UK
Dublin is a city of boundaries and enclosed worlds: walls, objects and in-betweens. Historical estates such as Dublin Castle, Trinity College and the Archbishops Palace on Kevin Street Upper have boundary walls to the city, and their buildings act as objects defining the external spaces. The placement of the buildings creates experiential conditions of glimpses or ‘narrows’. This is a spatial condition of constriction and openness, being led through spaces, given intriguing glimpses of things beyond, or referred back to where you have come from. The thesis is as much about these transitions as it is about the spaces – the motion of slipping through, a sense of compression and cropped views.

On the site of the historical Archbishops Palaces, currently a Garda station, this idea of narrows can happen on all scales – on the scale of the urban block, the building, the communal space and the apartments, and therefore the thesis project has been simultaneously designed on all these levels. The apartments billow and constrict in plan, creating adaptable spaces, and giving a sense of discovery and onwardness through rooms and around corners; through narrows and knots.


Tutor(s)
2015
The thesis project is located on the south side of the river in Dublin, close to St Patrick’s Cathedral and park. On the urban block there is Marsh’s Library, and the buildings of the Archbishops Palace which are now used as a Garda Station.
The thesis project began with an exploration of Trinity College Dublin and its experiential condition of glimpses or ‘narrows’. By drawing the two containing walls or edges and the view between, a method was developed by which to measure and design narrow
This spatial condition of constriction and openness, the way you are led through spaces, given intriguing glimpses of things beyond, or referred back to where you have come from - is a development of my research into Carlo Scarpa’s staircases and how he c
The idea of narrows can happen on all scales – on the scale of the urban block, the building, the communal space and the apartments, and therefore the thesis project has been simultaneously designed on all these levels. On the scale of the urban block, a
These entrance spaces are treated differently – they are un-insulated spaces, and therefore have surface mounted glazing. The facade creates a wall to the city, with recessed windows, puncturing pockets of air in. The internal courtyard facade has both
The intricacy of the apartment plans derives from the desire to design apartments with dual aspect and the need to access each set of four apartments from a communal stairwell. Contingent upon these requirements, each apartment has a narrow where they sh
The communal staircases twist up the corners of the overall form, with some landings projecting out to give views over the courtyard, and other landings being pulled into the depth of the corner giving internalised views of narrows. The stairs arrive at
The apartments span the length between stairwells becoming elongated dwellings of varying widths. The spatial condition is one of burrowing through space. The apartments seek to delight and surprise in the first instance becoming more intimate in time –
The apartments billow and constrict in plan, creating adaptable spaces, and giving a sense of discovery and onwardness through rooms and around corners; through narrows and knots.
Model photographs and drawings of the different apartment interiors: materiality, detailing and qualities of light.
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