Marine House occupies a central position in the Clanwilliam Court office complex which stretches from Lower Grand Canal Street to the north east to Lower Mount Street to the south west.  This is a highly prominent location with a significant south east facing address to the important linear amenity space of the Grand Canal.

 

The proposal is to refurbish and extend Marine House in order to significantly enhance its architectural treatment and the workplace environment that it offers.  To that end it is proposed to strip it back to its essential structure of concrete columns, beams and slabs and to re imagine it from that starting point.  There are a number of essential components in our proposal for the regeneration of the building both in terms of space and enclosure.

 

The Clanwilliam Place frontage is extended outwards to align itself with the new building line established by the adjacent façades.  A new set back uppermost penthouse floor is added with a continuous terrace facing towards the canal and a smaller set back terrace to the rear.  A recessed ground floor to Clanwilliam Place articulates the base of the building and creates an entrance threshold.  A series of circular columns support this new extended element. The main entrance is centrally located and is arrived at by a generous flight of steps to entrance foyer level above street level, with disabled access accommodated by a sesame-type platform lift integrated with the stairs. A bike ramp provides access to the basement levels.  In general terms this arrangement of base, middle and top will provide a carefully articulated architectural composition.  The space fronting Marine will be landscaped and planted and a specimen tree is introduced adjacent to the residential steps.

 

A clear hierarchy of façade treatments is proposed for the building. The Clanwilliam Place frontage will be large format unitised glazing with a strongly expressed module coinciding with the existing structural bay.  A pale umber anodised finish has been selected to aluminium componants; this choice of colour will complement the silver anodised finish of the glazing members of the adjoining Velasco building and create a subtle distinction between the two.