Discover the Strategy Behind the D-Void Towers

The Reuben Street Apartments project uses a strategy of an articulated landscape of 1-2 stories with residential towers of 12+ stories. Envisioning this strategy into the surrounding void facilitates, the protection of the adjoining residential enclaves and the re-making of the urban node.

The fabric is repaired and new public space is carved from it. The removed fabric is displaced into towers projecting the void vertically, defining the area both spatially and figuratively, giving it presence and a distinct character.

By the 1980’s, slum clearance and road widening projects had rendered many areas of Dublin’s inner city devoid of potential and beyond an economic value as development sites.

In these inner city areas, with a disproportionately high number of local authority tenants and a lack of indigenous employment opportunities, there are no supermarkets, cinemas, leisure facilities or other economic or cultural signifiers of community.

The experience of building in this void – with Reuben Street Apartments (completed in 2006) - clarified the potential of the two-storey house and its corollary the 12+ storey tower. Each building type follows its own logic, allowing them to co-exist in a symbiotic engagement satisfying both the desire for “home” and the need for density. The fast moving shadow of the towers articulates the textural matt of roofs and gardens below.

About the FKLarchitects

FKL was established in Dublin, Ireland, in 1998 by Michelle Fagan, Paul Kelly and Gary Lysaght. The practice is committed to contemporary environmentally aware design and has a strong focus on the application of abstract ideas to the built form.

FKL has lectured and been exhibited nationally and internationally. FKL has also received a number of national awards and has been nominated for the Mies Van der Rohe European Architecture Award. FKL was included in the AJ Corus 40 under 40 exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

FKL has conceived, curated and designed the Irish entry for the Venice Biennale - SubUrban to SuperRural - comprising theoretical projects by nine architects on the issue of sprawl. FKL brought this exhibition on tour to five venues throughout Ireland in conjunction with Culture Ireland and the Architecture Foundation.