The Irish Times Lobby and Reception

he Irish Times Commissioned PKA in 2013 to develop a new concept and a new design for the lobby and educational rooms of its head office, so as to reflect the newspaper's shift from being a hard-copy broadsheet to a digital information news forum.

PKA's design for the street-level lobby included the creation of a seamless video wall, comprising six LEDs, measuring 2.8m wide x 1.5m high and connected to the newsroom, that projected images of the latest news that could be read from within the lobby itself, as well as from the street outside. Similar video walls were installed in the third-floor newsroom and in the staff canteen.

The commission also included the redesign of the public reception desk, replacing the existing one with a more compact version - to free-up space for members of the public to use the lobby, whether to sit and peruse hard copies of the paper, download news from the complimentary iPads provided, or to follow the on-screen version from the sofas the design provided.

The mostly black and white interior by Rachael Chidlow included furniture designed by the legendary Charles Eames and a number of light fittings by the emerging Irish designer Andrew Clancy.

A highlight of the design is the feature magenta wall - chosen on account of it being the most vibrant of the Irish Times's colours - that incorporates passages from the newspaper's constitution to emphasise the importance of the written word, and to highlight the ethos of 'the paper of record' - to present the news accurately, comprehensively and fairly.From the success of this phase, PKA are now working on later phases of remodelling the newspaper offices.

Client: The Irish Times

Value: N/A
Size: 3200sqm

Reference: Ms. Claire Considine
Design: 2013
Completion: 2013