BallyBay Community College
Co. Monaghan
McGarry Ní Éanaigh Architects
The original building dated from 1966, a two storey concrete frame structure of some character (including a cantilevered art room block in need of care) set at the bottom edge of a confined and steep west - facing site forming the south side of a drumlin on the edge of the town.Access is directly from the public roadway with the external play areas one level above and behind the school.The scheme - the extension and re-description of the building happened in two phases over a five year period. Phase I, a two storey addition to the north of the existing provided teaching spaces and reconciled universal access from entrance level to the upper yard. Phase 11 involved an additional floor on top on Phase 1 with all work carried out with the school in use.The essence of the scheme was to provide a simple and efficient organisation of teaching accommodation on a constricted footprint, on a live site, over three floors, with flexibility in its delivery and given its funding pattern - that each phase be a coherent architectural