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dlr LexIcon is a new public library for Dún Laoghaire designed to provide a new landmark between the town and coastline. The four-storey structure was built into the existing slope creating two ground floor areas and a pair of quieter upper levels that offer a mixture of both social and intimate spaces.
The building re-interprets the traditional idea of a library by delivering a cultural, modern building that encourages social and community interaction as rigorously as it facilitates enquiry and learning. The library will also house separate reading rooms, a junior library, an auditorium, a cafe, an art gallery, a history department with study spaces, as well as staff facilities.
An efficient building
We have been responsible for the mechanical and electrical design services. We also provided sustainability consulting, incorporating innovative features on its construction, ventilation and energy conservation.
The building also includes materials selected to match those already in use in the town. Purposefully designed to achieve high standards of environmental sustainability, passive solar gain is used to the full, while a series of internal shaft, arranged along the spine of the building create natural ventilation and heat recovery at their point of discharge.
Although the library opened in December 2014, it has already won the award for Best Public Building at the LAMA Community and Community & Council Awards 2015.
Energy efficiency
While renewable sources provide the primary energy for the building, gas-fired and biomass fired boilers supply the heating.
Nine wind cowls provide ventilation from a passive system that uses the wind and the stack effect to generate fresh air and extract stale air to and from every room in the building.
It also provides for heat recovery and has been developed to harness natural wind currents to create air pressure sufficient to provide a plentiful and healthy fresh air supply with no energy cost.
