Landmark HKR designed building for sale
THE FORGE, Macken Street, Dublin
The site is located at the intersection of a primary Dublin thoroughfare, Pearse Street, the southern and Macken Street which junction is the gateway to the southern entry corridor to Dublin’s Silicon Docks. It has a full grant of planning for a visionary, three-storey plus rooftop structure comprising 2,600 square feet of highly adaptable live/workspace. This once-overlooked corner, formerly a humble forge, has been transformed into a meticulously crafted building that affords the end user a rare opportunity to carve their identity permanently into Dublin’s 21st-century urban landscape.
The ground floor is designed to accommodate a retail/ office/ showroom, or coffee dock, actively engaging the public realm and contributing to the vibrancy of Macken Street and Pearse Street. The upper floors benefit from permitted work/live use, offering the occupier(s) maximum flexibility. The building core is strategically planned to support up to three separate tenancies on a floor-by-floor basis, safeguarding the building’s long-term commercial viability and adaptability.
At roof level, a south and west-facing ‘potager’ garden of vegetables, herbs, wildflowers, and beehive reflects a clear ecological intent, providing both visual amenity and environmental value. As a zero-carbon development, the building quietly demonstrates leadership in sustainable design and will stand as an exemplar of sustainable urban design. The result is a precise and purposeful piece of city-making at a key urban junction: a contemporary form rooted in context, ready to become the physical embodiment of a forward-thinking brand or creative enterprise.
A Jewel Cut to Context
Far from a conventional infill, the new mixed-use development is conceived as a confident yet respectful punctuation mark in the city’s architectural grammar. A crisp, geometric volume rises from the historic streetscape, elegantly resolving the fractured urban grain with a carefully calibrated composition that mediates between neighbouring terraces and the soaring scales of nearby tech campuses.
The building speaks fluently in the language of modernity, yet with an unmistakable Dublin accent. Its massing is a choreographed negotiation between bold civic presence and intimate urban texture, a “bookend” that completes the streetscape with poise and precision. A chamfered rear elevation subtly nods to its residential neighbours, while the façade on Pearse Street delivers a commanding urban signal.
Crafted from Timber, Clad in Integrity
At the heart of the proposal is a robust commitment to low-carbon construction. The primary structural system is composed entirely of cross-laminated timber (CLT), a material choice that encapsulates the project's environmental ethos. Prefabricated offsite and rapidly assembled with surgical precision, the CLT frame offers exceptional thermal performance and minimal embodied carbon, contributing to both the sustainability and agility of delivery.
Externally, the palette is tactful yet theatrical. GRC panel cladding wraps the volumes in a luminous, off-white skin, recalling the stonework of Dublin’s Georgian heritage while speaking to the future. Accents of perforated bronze-toned metal offer both solar protection and a dialogue with the changing light.
Sustainability, Engineered Beautifully
HKR’s design philosophy embraces a “fabric-first” approach, maximising the performance of the envelope before resorting to mechanical systems. Passive ventilation is driven through chimney stacks, while extensive green roofs foster biodiversity and insulate the building with nature's own blanket. The highly insulated façades and airtight detailing support a low-energy, low-impact lifestyle within.
From solar-orientated louvres to the subtle mass of the CLT frame, every element of the project has been conceived with environmental intelligence and long-term resilience in mind. The building is future-proofed for adaptation, change and evolution, qualities essential for any responsible architecture in the 21st century.
Placemaking with Precision
HKR’s intervention is more than a building, it’s an act of civic repair. It restores a critical corner to the city with a form that is assertive, contextual and enduring. It reflects the studio’s signature strengths: a refined clarity of form, sustainable ingenuity, and an unwavering commitment to placemaking that serves both people and place.
The Macken Street project is a celebration of context, craft and carbon-conscious construction. It is proof that small sites can carry big ideas, and that architecture, when executed with care and imagination, can transform even the most modest footprint into a moment of urban poetry.
