Cypress College Facilities Master Plan

Dan J on April 9, 2023

The Facilities Master Plan for Cypress College in California aims to revitalize its aging campus core facilities and improve the student experience by seamlessly linking a series of new, student-serving activity hubs into an existing midcentury modern campus fabric. Adaptively reused buildings, new construction, and a network of informal promenades and quads combine to bridge the College’s connections between previously separated and siloed academic programs. The plan integrates diverse campus communities and leverages their associated resources, while extending the heart of the campus into its surrounding neighborhoods.

A constellation of collaboration spaces along a series of multi-level indoor and outdoor pathways and terraces link campus programs inside and out and enhance institutional identity, safety, and connectivity. Students, faculty, and staff can meet and engage with one another along these shared and shaded promenades. Integrated and visible sustainability features, such as photovoltaic architectural canopies, create outdoor classrooms and study spaces for hands-on learning, collaboration, and demonstration. Student housing, community gardens, and recreational fields create a ring of activity along the campus perimeter, enhancing the campus’s connection and shared access to the Cypress community.

Grangegorman Urban Quarter Master Plan

Dan J on April 9, 2023

The Grangegorman Master Plan represents the largest higher-education campus development ever undertaken in the history of the state of Ireland, creating a vibrant new Urban Quarter for Dublin’s north inner city. Prior to the planning effort, the 73-acre site was utilized by the old St. Brendan’s Psychiatric Hospital, walled off from the rest of the city of Dublin since the early nineteenth century.

The plan will allow the updated site to ultimately accommodate 422,300 square meters of world-class academic and residential buildings for the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), replacement psychiatric facilities and new primary care facilities for Ireland’s national health care service, the HSE, and new amenities for the local community and the wider surrounding city as well.

The design responds to the site’s rich historical context and strengthens connections to the existing urban fabric, with existing protected structures preserved and new, modern buildings added. The master plan is focused on two centers of activity: Library Square, which serves as the campus heart toward the west, and the more public-oriented Arts Forum to the east, which is lined with theaters, museums and exhibition galleries.

Rustic Canyon View House

Dan J on April 9, 2023

The Rustic Canyon View House, designed by MRY senior leaders and homeowners Jeanne Chen, FAIA and Bob Dolbinski, AIA, is located in a rural oasis close to the Pacific Ocean. Although the 3,200 square foot steeply sloping lot was considered unbuildable, the design of their home leverages the one-to-one slope to merge house and hillside to capture the remarkable views afforded by the unique site in the Pacific Palisades. Inventive planning provides strong indoor-outdoor connections at each level that lend a feeling of expansiveness to the small, 2,000 square foot house.

The house is shaped to capture light and distant canyon views and uses the earth’s natural insulating properties to minimize heat gain. The massing creatively complies with stringent hillside ordinances and integrates passive environmental strategies throughout. Its terra-colored concrete cladding is maintenance free and blends with the surrounding terrain. A skylight above the central stair brings daylight deep into interior spaces and every part of the house maintains a strong connection to its context. To fully take advantage of the small lot, the fully open carport doubles as the main outdoor gathering space overlooking the canyon.

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