by Lewis Catchpole
University College Dublin (UCD) is commissioning an international search for a design team to devise and design a landmark €48m building.
The international competition, which will launch in early 2018, is to design the 8,000 sqm University’s Centre for Creative Design as well as an Entrance Precinct Masterplan.
London-based Malcolm Reading Consultants have been appointed to manage the process.
UCD plans to improve and develop its campus to reflect its 21st Century identity, and offer faculty and students exemplary facilities that raise the University’s profile internationally and give it greater presence within Dublin.
University College Dublin president, Professor Andrew J. Deeks, said: “The architectural quality of our campus offers us an immediate way to communicate what UCD is about: an exceptional student experience, a productive intellectual exchange and an ambition to impact the world that draws students from diverse cultural backgrounds.
“Holding an international design competition is a perfect fit with our day-to-day values of stimulating creativity, welcoming talent and rewarding excellence. We’re very much looking forward to the competition launching in early 2018.”
The two-stage global search will culminate in the selection of five teams chosen on the basis of relevant skills and past experience. At the second stage, the teams will be invited to visit the site and will be asked to produce concept designs. International teams will be required to team up with a local executive team during the second stage.
Malcolm Reading, competition director, said: “This project has the potential to define UCD, the largest university in Ireland, over the next fifty years. As the project has two distinct aspects, this could be a great opportunity for an emerging practice to collaborate with an established one.”
Interested architects, urban designers and masterplanners can now sign up to receive notification of launch on the competition website’s holding page at https://competitions.malcolmreading.co.uk/universitycollegedublin/
