Architectural photography Waterford Health Park Healthcare images include the interiors and exteriors of the building.
Short-listed for the World Building of the Year 2010 at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona
Built between 1842 and 1863 and designed by AWN Pugin according to his ideal monastery plans in ‘True Principles’, this building was a convent until 2005. In early 2006, we were approached by Dr Mark and Mrs. Edel Rowe on behalf of the Rowe Creavin practice to study the feasibility of transforming it into a Health Park. The Brief was interesting: to provide the full range of community-based medical services, from GP to Minor Operations, under one roof and in a protected structure (listed building) of international importance. The nature of the brief suited the existing building with its cellular, centralised plan, allowing for a distribution of consulting rooms around a cloister layout on the ground and first floors. During the survey process, we discovered a soaring, barn–type structure hidden behind partitions in part of the building that had been ‘filled in’ with rooms and floors in the early 1960s. We proposed that this space be restored to its original volume and be used as a semi-public reception and drop-in area, enlivened by the addition of a coffee shop and roof lighting. To make it the welcoming heart of the scheme, we took down the existing stone roof (which had been altered beyond recognition during the 1960s works). We used a fully glazed screen to present Pugin’s magnificent structure in the section.