No place like home

A pilot housing and community scheme in Dublin, it comprises a 50-bedroom centre providing accommodation and training for 18- to 25-year olds in need of a home. They are what the building's designer Angela Brady of Brady Mallalieu Architects calls the "hidden homeless" - school-leavers, youngsters who can't afford their own home and the untrained. Their stay in the centre will be anything from one to a maximum of three years. Being in a sheltered environment while they learn new skills or become better educated is aimed at giving them a good start in life.

The £9m centre was begun in 2001 and completed in June 2003. It houses a community and sports facility, something which Dublin council had promised the locals for years. It finally honoured its pledge by donating a brownfield inner city site in Marrowbone Lane, which was previously the location of the Player Wills cigarette factory. Originally, the intention was to refurbish the old building, but this was eventually ruled out on grounds of cost and the difficulties associated with a building arranged over multiple levels.

Brick was the architect's favoured choice as stone was deemed too institutional. But the spirit of the old factory lives on. The design retains a section of original stonework, which has been incorporated into the brickwork at the entrance and forms an eye-catching feature designed to suggest growth and renewal – a fitting philosophy for the building.

The two main elements of the scheme are the sports centre on one side and the foyer accommodation on the other – separated by a series of flexible function rooms in between. Arranged around the south-facing courtyard, the foyer comprises study bedrooms, kitchens, dining facilities, communal rooms, IT classrooms and lecture hall. Two live-in managers' flats and guest bedrooms complete the line-up. At the other end of the building is a multi-use sports hall with gym, health centre, childcare centre, function rooms and a public cafe.

The design philosophy throughout has been to create a welcoming, secure and non-institutional feel that has been achieved by using strong, geometric forms, pattern and bright colour. Orangey red brickwork was used extensively and was chosen because of its warmth and domestic associations, particularly here in the Liberties area of Dublin, where it is widely used for housing.

Structurally, the building is as varied as its elevations suggest. A steel frame structure lies at the heart of the sports side and one gets a peek of this on the front elevation where the structure is exposed, albeit faced with a grey aluminium cover flashing. On the foyer side, loadbearing brickwork and blockwork cross-walls support pre-cast concrete floors.

The brick faced, partially filled cavity walls comprise an outer 102 mm brick leaf, an overall 124 mm wide cavity partially filled with insulation and an inner leaf of 215 mm thick blockwork. Relatively thick concrete blockwork was required to satisfy local requirements for controlled, sequential collapse in the event of an explosion. As an extra precaution, concrete columns were required to be inserted within the load-bearing brick and block construction.

Externally, brick is used imaginatively to provide as much aesthetic diversity as possible. However, it also plays an important structural role. The three drums of the building – entrance, lecture room and creche – all comprise 440 mm thick diaphragm walls in which outer and inner skins are tied together by perpendicular brick fins. Steel ties used to bond the fins have meant that no brick headers are visible on the elevation.

Window sill levels are staggered on the rear elevations for variety and capped with grey powder-coated, pressed aluminium sills to match window frames. The resulting geometry is enhanced by the coloured Reglit glass panels which, like the brickwork, help to unite the various elevations. Reglit glass was also used for the "shower towers" – glass towers rising through four storeys and delivered to site as ready fitted and plumbed pods.

No special bricks were used on the job, but variety in the brickwork has come from using standard bricks creatively. The hit-and-miss arrangement of the main entrance drum brickwork for example, is built in ordinary stretchers and results in an attractive grid pattern of solid and void, which adds extra interest to the semi-private entrance courtyard that it partially encloses. The same technique is used to provide air intake to the plant rooms located on the top floor of the building.

Further variety to the elevations was imparted by subtle textured panels that were created by laying bricks with their rear face exposed, while a different surface effect came from using a textured version of the main brick. As a result, the whole building can be seen as a fine example of how to add variety to brickwork by using a few simple techniques. Equally important, the architects have demonstrated that when used creatively, brick can fulfill structural and aesthetic criteria that result in sharp, stylish and imaginative buildings.

Project details from the BDA on 01344 885651