THE LIFETIME LAB - CORK CITY
The Lifetime Lab is located within the buildings of the former Cork City Waterworks, a complex of industrial buildings of high architectural and archaeological significance.
JCA acted as conservation architects for the repair and reuse of these buildings, identifying suitable reuses for the buildings which were most adaptable, while retaining and repairing the surviving plant to the main steam house as a museum and visitor attraction.
The end result of the extensive work program at the Waterworks site is the conservation and adaptation of four historic structures, and the upgrading of a neglected site to a sustainable new use providing equal access throughout.
The very defined objectives of this City Council-driven project allowed the design team to fully engage with both planners and the conservation officer from the outset to agree common goals and principles, while formulating the appropriate operation and marketing of the centre at an early stage allowed the architects to finely tune the building layouts to that brief.
This building won the RIAI Silver Medal for Conservation 2005-2007