Summer Solstice Surprise
MOLA win the RIAI Award for Best Project in the Urban Design and Public Realm category, for ‘The Campus, Cherrywood’.
On the 21st June, in the stunning courtyard in the National Gallery, the RIAI President Sean Mahon presented MOLA with the much coveted award.
The RIAI jury described the new plaza, lake, canopy, sunken biophilic garden and meeting pods as follows:
‘Addressing the shared facilities of an existing business park, this project focused on upgrading the public realm and rediscovering the natural beauty of the setting. In the reworked central space, a timber and glass canopy – which floats over a tiered garden of cascading planters – covers a new pedestrian route, transforms the point of arrival and creates a new meeting place. An enhanced nature-based embankment walk provides new paths around existing trees and is supplemented by planting, attractive seating, and low lighting. Inserted into this natural setting, and within the tree canopy, are futuristic meeting pods on stilts. Accessed by walkways, organised around a central pond feature, these innovative multi-purpose spaces can be booked as breakout spaces to the office buildings. The enhancement of the public realm and office park experience has been transformative for all users, who benefit from the restorative qualities of the natural landscaping and the opportunities for social interaction that the attractive surroundings present.’
