Mixed Commercial Building - Structure Steel Framed Building: Steel framed infill building on Custom House Quay, Wexford. This building was a retail ground floor, 2 floors of office space and penthouse apartment. Disabled access and fire safety was an integral part of the design of this building. The site location for this building is in a high flood risk zone and my proposal was to use an automatic metal barrier that recesses into the ground but triggers automatically when a set water level is reached. I explored the possibility of raising the building 800 mm above the street to be above the level of the last flood. I found this method to be problematic. It took up too much floor space installing disabled ramps to comply with part M of the building regulations. I enjoyed this project as it gave me the opportunity of designing with steel. I used exposed lattice trusses and castellated beams in the penthouse apartment. This building has party walls on 3 sides so natural light penetration was a problem. My solution was a full height atrium in the centre rear of the building. This atrium was glazed on 3 sides to allow penetration of natural light into the kitchen and bathroom areas of all floors.
Martin McClean - Bsc (Honours) Sustainable Architectural Technology