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A new public park on the northside of Dublin combines wind power and sustainable water management with environmentally sound materials and strategies to boost biodiversity, making it a standard-bearer in urban design. Lenny Antonelli visited the site
Construct Ireland readers are used to reading about buildings - their construction details, insulation systems, air-tightness measures, glazing and energy sources. But sustainable design can be applied to other features of the built environment too. Like buildings, parks are a key part of our urban fabric, and their design, development, and maintenance requires more energy and materials than we realise. Shouldn't green building principles be applied to parks too?
The revamped Father Collins Park in Donaghmede on Dublin' northside sets a new standard for urban design. Five wind turbines power electrical functions on site, reed beds filter pondwater, and significant attention has been paid to promoting biodiversity and specifying green materials. The park is a also a key part of Dublin City Council's plan to encourage sustainable transport in the city's North Fringe area, and features two playing pitches, playgrounds, a skateboard park, woodland, picnic areas, exercise stations and an amphitheatre.
The city council announced an international competition to design the new park in 2002. Dublin-based MCO Projects entered, and the firm's design made it to the final shortlist of five, ultimately finishing second to Argentinian architects Abelleyro & Romero. "We were the only Irish architecture company in the final five," says MCO director Eve-Anne Cullinane.
Lining the promenade are five 50kW wind turbines which provide electricity on site
That wasn't to be the end of MCO's involvement though - the firm was asked to manage the project locally by the Buenos Aires-based architects. "We literally hooked up with the winners," Cullinane says. "We ended up forming a company with them and we executed the project while making sure that it was true to their creative design."
Only one other example of wind power in a public park was found by consulting engineers Buro Happold - a 10kW, 40m lattice-tower turbine in Pennsylvania. At Father Collins Park five 50kW Entergrity EW15 turbines - supplied by Perpetual Energy and standing 25m tall to the tower top - line the central promenade, powering lighting features, water aeration, electrical sockets and service buildings. "The idea is that at full capacity they'll power everything on site," says MCO architect Michael Goan. "When the wind's not blowing, electricity is imported from the national grid."
MCO and Dublin City Council will monitor the performance of the turbines closely over the next year. "We'll know how much energy is being generated and how it's performing against targets," Goan says. "Now is only the start of the process of tweaking the turbines to the site conditions."
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