On Saturday 14th October, Scott Tallon Walker Architects' Paul Hadfield and Aprar Elawad gave two fully-booked tours of Miesian Plaza for Irish Architecture Foundation's Open House Dublin festival.

Each tour began with a brief presentation on the history of the plaza, including the influence of Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building in New York on the original architect of the 1970’s complex – STW’s Ronald Tallon. The three structures are a rare example of 20th century buildings with protected status, something which we carefully designed the scheme for the 2013-2018 refurbishment around when we were appointed as conservation architects to bring the complex up to Grade A 21st Century office standards. 

This work included:

• remodelling the three protected structures’ bronze glazed façades while being sensitive to the protected status of the complex, which played a significant part in achieving LEED Platinum v4 certification – the first building in Ireland to do so.
• extending the largest of the three blocks by one full bay (80m long by 6.5m deep) along the length of the building to the Northeast. 
• extensive modifications of all cores to provide accessibility and firefighting access together with modern sanitary accommodation. 
• the addition of new Town Hall Space and Canteen at the Ground Floor.
• introducing club-house standard tenant facilities in space formerly occupied by the original heating and cooling system, including bike-parking, showers, changing and drying rooms, lockers, and a gym.
• implementing a responsive Building Management System which tracks the sun and responds accordingly, using motorised internal blinds to control solar gain and glare to provide maximum occupant comfort. 
• recycling carpet tiles and other materials from the original interiors to reduce waste. 
• improving the public realm and permeability of the Plaza including positioning of the two monumental sculptures.

Visitors were also treated to spectacular views of Dublin from the 7th floor, where the double skin added during the refurbishment to reduce heat gain was explained.

Thank you to everyone who came along and to the owners of Miesian Plaza for allowing us to conduct the tours.

Read more about Miesian Plaza at https://www.stwarchitects.com/our-work/working/mie...

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