Alexandra College Dormitory
Henry J Lyons has reimagined the Milltown campus of Alexandra College – an independent girls’ school for boarding and day students.
Alongside the regeneration and extension of the original Derek Ryan and Maurice Hogan-designed modernist buildings and the addition of a new, 203-bedspace dormitory and recreation building, Henry J Lyons’s scope encompasses public realm design, building interiors, and the wayfinding strategy. The project reunites the ‘learning’ and ‘living’ aspects of the school and, through a pedestrian-centric site strategy, unlocks the potential for an academic quadrangle. The new entrance, circulation strategy, and dormitory building, known as the Hermione, represent the initial phases of a ten-year masterplan to upgrade the campus and provide facilities that reflect the progressive ethos of the school.
A central circulation and assembly space links the two wings of the L-shaped right-angled dormitory building. An entrance foyer is located at the intersection of the main horizontal and vertical circulation routes, with the main stairway connecting the two accommodation wings at all levels The external walkway leading to the sports centre bisects the building at ground floor.
The contemporary language of the Hermione does not ape the site's modernist architectural heritage but respectfully works with it. Main elevations are in light-coloured brick, which contrasts with and complements the red brick of the existing buildings.
