Leinster House Press Reception Room

An existing stairwell to the former College of Art, landlocked within other developments in the northern corner of Leinster House, is converted for audio-visual presentation and a television recording studio.

Groups of school children are introduced to the workings of parliament by educational videos and discussions with their local politicians.

The existing space, approximately nine metres cubed, with a central oval rooflight and a single Georgian door to a covered arcade in the forecourt of Leinster House, had become the left-over space between recent rebuilding works for parliamentary offices and the National Library. The strategy was to insert an auditorium, a democratic space, and to locate technical services and recording studio in its undercroft.

A fragmentary amphitheatre is carved out of portland stone, standing slightly skewed within the existing shell, its symmetry distorted by the differently fixed positions of rooflight, door, lectern and projection screen.