This 4-storey humanities research office building is constructed directly over the protected single-storey Edmund Burke Theatre in the middle of Dublin’s historic Trinity College campus.

By straddling the new structure over an existing building, the original building on this confined campus location is retained in full. Creating a clear span over the existing building, a hybrid Vierendeel truss on the rear elevation is picked up on a large cantilever truss. Concrete cores support the steel frame, which is sheathed with a lightweight stone cladding façade system.

As well as working close to existing foundations and basements, a number of mature trees had to be retained in very close proximity to the building, requiring extremely careful foundation design. Despite challenges including access difficulties and limited onsite space, using lightweight and prefabricated construction achieved a short overall project programme to provide a robust, durable and sustainable solution increasing much needed capacity in this historic university setting.