Work IQ
Work IQ by McCullough Mulvin Architects is a new Innovation Centre for start-up enterprises, and forms part of the new Tallaght Innovation Quarter in South Dublin, Ireland.
Work IQ is a new initiative by South Dublin County Council to provide flexible rentable office space and support facilities to startup enterprises. The building is a landmark of the new Tallaght Innovation Quarter. Sitting at the top of a new linear park, its taut green metal and glass-clad box form provides views on all sides to the surrounding town and mountains beyond. Inside, bright and spacious offices and meeting rooms sit above an activated Town Hall space and café at ground level. The building is welcoming and generous, with flexible spaces to encourage diversity and collaboration.
SDCC’s brief for the Tallaght Innovation Centre (now operating as Work IQ) was to provide a high-quality architectural landmark within the new public realm of an emerging urban quarter. The scheme required a strategic understanding of Tallaght town centre, its plan, history and ambition into the future. Tallaght has an interesting and unusual character in Ireland, representing a long-term successful investment in urban development over a generation. It has transformed from a car-based suburban road layout into one of Ireland’s most successful cities. It started as a place of suburban industry and is now somewhere people live and work within a network of public spaces.
Our design meets the client’s objectives of providing modern, flexible workspace, delivering an attractive enterprise culture, supporting the community of businesses, and connecting to the town. The concept is a transparent and open building that looks in four directions. Four storeys high, the ground floor is open and inviting, a public space you can see through from side-to-side. The form is designed to ensure a sense of community and well-being for its users. The elimination of long corridors fosters this, and glazed doors terminate each side with views to the landscape beyond. A void over the ground floor Town Hall area, flooded with natural light, allows for visual connections between levels. Smaller break out spaces, including carefully designed furniture, layer into the design to encourage collaboration and flexibility. A south-facing outdoor terrace opens from the café to the new park.
The materials selected create an industrial aesthetic with exposed finishes throughout – concrete walls and floors, mesh ceilings, ply cladding. This required a robust response where quality was front loaded, and services were carefully coordinated and exposed.
Work IQ is one of the first buildings in Ireland to be connected and operational with District Heating. Waste heat from a nearby data centre is reused at Work IQ through a high-efficiency water-to-water heat pump. This innovative approach reduces carbon emissions by approximately 1,500 tonnes annually, making a significant impact on the nation’s decarbonisation.
The building also maximises passive design techniques. It is naturally ventilated throughout, and high-performance facades minimise solar heat gains whilst maintaining high light transmittance and reducing heating/cooling energy demand. The building achieves an A3 BER and is NZEB standard.
This sustainable approach is enhanced by the new linear park which increases biodiversity in the area and provides a new public realm for the wider Tallaght community.
