Ratoath College Extension

Jamestown, Co. Meath 

McGarry Ní Éanaigh Architects

With this extension project, Ratoath College now provides for 1,300 pupils. DoE briefing policy required a ‘stand alone’ extension. The original building and this extension integrate a looped circulation; the new social space opens with corner sliding folding doors to the original GP Area facing the garden. Brick being precluded as the main material, it appears on the new garden gable and as lining to external courts. The extension’s architectural language is an inversion of our original formal/material thinking, circular rooflights in the existing grey concrete roof/ceiling become circular opes in the new grey walls - vertically brushed render modulated by inlaid timber battens at vertical joints. The project rethinks the DoE minimum pitch requirement by turning the slope to run in the building’s long dimension. The roof of folding planes cracks open to admit south light in the circulation; colour is used carefully to punctuate, orientate and delight.