Galway Campus
We were commissioned to develop a vision for the re-development of the school campus of Coláiste Iognáid, a Jesuit secondary college in Galway.
With Jesuits leaving their active ministry, we were asked to help the school integrate the existing church, into the life of the school. We re-imagined the church as a space for the new generation to congregate.
Our proposal makes the church, a designated protected structure, the primary pedestrian entrance to the school. Openings in the transepts make the church part of the primary thoroughfare through the school. The existing pews are removed and repurposed into a smaller chapel within the nave of the existing church. The church transepts and crossing are to be repurposed as an area for students to gather, do homework and read. The original church alter is preserved in its current location for occasional use during larger congregations and as a memory of what was.
Each of the existing school buildings are re-visited and extended with a series of covered walkways to provide shelter in adverse weather, a library, a seating area and servery. A place where staff and students can gather is created around a courtyard, fostering a sense of academic community, with windows into all the key activities beyond. The school gardens are re-landscaped and new sports facilities introduced.