PLAN Magazine (The Business of Building)
January 2004

BOX ARCHITECTURE FITS OUT ADS INDUSTRIAL UNIT

Box Architecture’s project of a fit-out of an industrial unit in Kells. Co Meath, was selected for exhibition with the RIAI Regional Awards 2003 – the practice’s seventh Irish architectural honour since 1999.

The project involved the fitting out, for processing, of a mid-terraced industrial unit (ground floor 346 sq m and mezzanine 242 sq m) belonging to Archaeological Development Services Ltd, a company providing a range of archaeological services to the construction and development sector. The existing structure is a portal frame, access is from the front and rear of the building.

The brief required that an industrial feel be retained and that the use of natural daylight be maximised. The design approach was to insert a series of objects into the building, around which the plan evolved, denoting the building programme.

On the ground floor the reception and administrative areas are held to the front. A laboratory is in the center of the building flanked on both sides by utility elements containing vertical circulation piercing to the mezzanine, toilets, dark room and air abrasive room, allowing daylight to penetrate deep into the volume by retaining translucent roof lights. The preliminary processing and storage area is to the rear in the two-storey void.

A shaft of light down the stairs indicates access to the mezzanine level. A plate is inserted to one side of the mezzanine, under which are gathered formal functions, which are delineated by clear glass walls interrupted by timber door planes, creating a flexible open plan in the centre of the building.

Finishes are minimal, every detail being no more than is required.

The project will be on exhibition from 8th January at Belvedere House, Mullingar, Westmeath, and from 5th February at Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford.

www.box.ie