Mater Private Hospital Dorset Street Extension

Mater Private Network is Ireland’s leading provider of private high acuity complex care, offering consultation, diagnostic, treatment, and procedure services across the country. The Mater Private Hospital in Dublin sits at the junction of Eccles Street and Dorset Street, a historically significant intersection characterised by its three-story Georgian Terrace houses. The design of the foremost medical facility’s expansion is driven by the stature of the hospital’s leadership in healthcare provision and its contribution to this historic district. The extension and renovation is motivated to deliver high fidelity medical care while enhancing the historically significant landscape to enrich the experience of patients, staff, and the greater community.

The Dorset Street Lower extension will add more than 6000 sqm to the existing Dublin hospital. The lower ground floor of the 5-storey addition will feature a new ambulance drop-off and pickup which is connected to the expanded emergency and urgent care departments on street level. A reception area on the ground floor will mark the new face of the Mater Private Hospital at the crux of Eccles Street and Dorset Street Lower. Stacked above the ground floor are new operating theatres, laboratory services, and ambulatory medical services, as well as a new ICU department occupying the fourth floor. The top floor of the Dorset Street Lower development will feature a new staff amenity space with outdoor terrace and green roof. Staff-centred amenities are fundamental to supporting the health and wellbeing of medical professionals, accomplished by generously incorporating sunlight, fresh air, and vegetation into the design.

The Mater Private Dorset Street Expansion is a development of the comprehensive facilities masterplan composed for the Mater Private Network. The Irish healthcare provider’s facilities are to be incrementally redeveloped across the country to increase the scope and fidelity of care, integrating a network-wide allegiance to salutogenic enriching environments. At the Dublin hospital, new spaces have been intentionally programmed and placed for its adjacency to the services in the existing facility. The proposed addition is designed to enrich the surrounding context by authentically responding to the scale, rhythm and materiality of this intersection’s urban fabric. The horizontal and vertical rhythm of the existing Georgian Terrace houses are mimicked in the scalloped bays of the addition. This fluted edge condition additionally allows natural light to be captured within the new hospital space, highlighting the changing light and shadow patterns produced by the terra cotta fins. As the addition rises, setbacks are implemented to negotiate the difference in scale between the corner and Dorset Street Lower.

The Georgian character of 106, 107, and 108 Dorset Street Lower are maintained to anchor the addition to the historic streetscape and serve as a visual touchstone for the sculptural massing. The historic trio of houses will be repurposed to feature a new training facility and conference center, emphasizing the Mater Private Network’s role as a leader in healthcare provision. The new corner of Eccles Street and Dorset Street Lower will set up a dialogue between St George’s Church, mimicking the horizontal banding of the spire and verticality of the columns using the terracotta fins. This strategy recognises the church as an important landmark while comfortably positioning the hospital in a secondary roll on the wider stage of the historic intersection.