The International Rugby Experience - AV 2023 Portfolio
January 2024
Images Nick Kane
The International Rugby Experience seeks to spread the culture of this centenary sport on an international scale. The institution now boasts a new home in the heart of Limerick, in the south of Ireland. The building joins the growing pool of venues for the city's cultural activity, and has become a key piece in the endeavour to revitalize its historical core. Surrounded by Georgian constructions and conditioned by the tightness of the site, the project looked to imposing civic edifices to use as references, contrasting them with the domestic scale of neighbouring blocks to propose a 'cathedral of rugby.' Such intention to build a landmark is aided by the asymmetrical composition of the facade, which strikes up a dialogue with the urban landscape by means of a lower volume, the cornice of which is aligned with the nearby dwellings. One enters through a large portico that leads into a public space, where visitors and fans can gather on match days. Behind this doubleheight foyer the building breaks up into seven levels that range from exhibition and shopping spaces on the lower floors to a lookout at the top. A carefully executed brick band and the mauve-toned concrete vaults then become the characteristic feature, giving the premises an overall solid and solemn effect.
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