Brick Type: Grangegorman Blend (adaptation of Ivanhoe Cream)
Architect: Maloney O’Byrne
Contractor: Sisk
The Phoenix Care Centre is a state-of-the-art replacement for the old 1814 Grangegorman Mental Health facility, one of the oldest purpose-built facilities in Ireland.
Created as a non-orthogonal arrangement of single, two and three-storey blocks around two central courtyards, the building places great emphasis on internal/external spatial relationships with green spaces woven in and garden colours brought into the interior to create an atmosphere of calm and tranquillity. Architects Maloney O’Byrne worked with Ibstock to develop a special brick blend for the external masonry walls that provided a warm finish with a slight grey hue and natural texture to unify the different elements of the building.
To reinforce the contemporary design, the brick detailing was continued to the underside of large exposed soffit areas using Ibstock Fastwall™ panels. The panels, which combine 20mm thick brick slips of the same Grangegorman Blend bonded to a patented glass reinforced plastic (GRP) backing system, were secured to a timber framework fixed to the exposed concrete soffits and jointed with standard mortar to provide a continuous high quality matching finish.
The earthy colour of the specially-created Grangegorman Blend mediates well between the adjoining residential area and proposed new Healthcare and Educational facilities on the site, and the continuity of finish helps in the creation of a natural and less intimidating environment for the various categories of service users catered for at the new centre.