Fitting office accommodation for 250 workers into a half-acre site in the centre of Dublin would pose something of a challenge to even the most ambitious developer. Congratulations are therefore due to the Office of Public Works for installing an extension to Leinster House within time and budget and in such a graceful fashion.
Work on the new structure, which began in June 1998, is coming to an end and while some areas still need to be finished, already it is possible to see that the building's occupants should feel delighted with what they have been given. The biggest difficulty facing the OPW and the two practices with which it worked on this scheme - Dolan and Donnelly Architects and Paul Arnold Architects - was the site itself, hemmed in by so many other buildings. The extension is built to the immediate north of Leinster House on land formerly occupied by properties belonging to the National College of Art and Design. To the west stands the National Library and to the east is the National Gallery. One of the most immediate problems to resolve was how to gain access to the site so that it could be first cleared and then redeveloped.
To achieve this aim, two bays of a high granite curved screen wall running between Leinster House and the National Gallery was taken down; it has since been entirely reinstated and looks as well as the parts which were never touched. Because this wall is so substantial, only the upper two storeys of the extension can be seen from Merrion Square. At an early stage, the architectural teams considered the possibility that the new building should follow the same line as the screen wall, but eventually - and correctly - decided that it should swerve in the opposite direction to create a dialogue between two different structures rather than pretend they shared common origins.
On the Kildare Street side of Leinster House an even more dramatic transformation has occurred as a new frontage between the former home of the Dukes of Leinster and the National Library has been erected to mirror that joining the Dail to the National Museum. This symmetrical arrangement for the elevations had been proposed by Thomas Deane in his 1886 scheme for the two institutions, but for some unknown reason the north corner was left incomplete. The new section, most of it replacing a single-storey wall, an interpretation of Deane's plans, is constructed in limestone with Portland stone used for the loggia pillars and first-floor window surrounds; the latter is also used on the National Library side where cut granite has been used for the main walls. Behind this front will be new press rooms and rooms for greeting visitors to the Dail. This deployment of three different materials is an echo of the three pedimented doorways found in the old 18th-century wall and reused in the new facade; one apiece is constructed from limestone, granite and Portland stone.
If this facade has something of the appearance of a stage set, this is due not just to the pristine quality of the freshly-cut stone, but to the presence of courtyard directly behind the wall. Here is the main entrance into the new extension, sited on an axis with the Dail's central corridor and facing a large bronze, Ireland at Peace, which was originally part of the large memorial to Queen Victoria designed by John Hughes and erected in front of Leinster House in 1908; another part of the same sculpture, Fame, has been placed in the new underground link corridor between the old house and the new building.
Covering some 8,500 sq m, the addition is approximately the same size as Hawkins House in central Dublin, but suggests none of that office block's ugly bulk. There are a number of reasons why this should be so, not least the quality of the natural materials used for both exterior and interior. The latter, aside from brushed steel for such elements as railings, features predominantly granite for the floors and seating, Portland stone for any walls not plastered and oak for doors, surrounds and a number of surfaces. The west wall of the building abuts the National Library, the walls of which are dressed in rusticated stone blocks. The windows of the proposed new reading room in the National Library can be seen from the new block's three-storey, glass-roofed atrium; if such a public forum is now somewhat standard in all large new buildings, it is essential when so much of the rest of the space is given over to relatively small and private offices.
Here the atrium also acts as a means of connecting the two "wings" of the extension, separated from each other by a Japanese-style garden. Designed by Martin Hallinan and featuring large blocks of uncut stone, running water and fully-developed trees, the garden offers the image of tranquility amid bustle even though it offers no space in which to sit.
Looking at the five-storey and six-storey office blocks at each side, the observer's eye is drawn to the triple-tiered bands of terracotta tiling used to divide one floor from the next. According to the OPW's David Byers, this material was introduced to break the monotony of the limestone and glass. On the opposite side of the atrium, a series of glass corridors run between the two blocks and provide further views of the garden as well as an opportunity to see the back of the National Gallery.
Due to the sloping ground, the principal floor of the atrium directly connects with the old cellars of Leinster House; these have been cleared of their former services, electric cables and decades of accumulated material so that they can serve as the main corridor linking one structure with the other. To assist this purpose, inside Leinster House the senate staircase has been continued from the ground floor to the lower level, using the same materials.
In the atrium, an even lower level has been created with a foyer and four large committee rooms, which receive no natural light. Offices for 100-plus Oireachtas members and their staff occupy the two wings and, while extremely comfortable and an improvement on their predecessors, are designed more with practical function than aesthetics in mind.
Costing some £25 million, the entire project is now drawing to a close as the autumn session of the Dail has got underway. The main parts of the building still not finished are the committee rooms, expected to be ready for use by the end of this month, and a few weeks will then be given over to clearing the surrounding site of almost two and a half years of debris. David Byers says that Leinster Lawn overlooking Merrion Square - since work began on the site given over in part to parking for elected representatives and members of the Dail staff - will be restored to its former condition before the end of 2000.
However, OPW hopes to clear all vehicles from both sides of Leinster House and plans to construct a car-park beneath Leinster Lawn. When this is done, the front courtyard of Leinster House can be properly landscaped to restore the area to an approximation of its 19th-century appearance.
