The brief for the Confucius Institute for Ireland was for a 2,000m2 new building on the UCD Belfield campus.

The building functions as an educational and cultural facility and is jointly funded by the Chinese and Irish governments. It is a joint venture between the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), Renmin University of China (Beijing) and UCD (Dublin).
© Donal Murphy
The building provides accommodation for a range of teaching, learning, research, training activities and administration. Publicly accessible facilities include a library, auditorium, restaurant and display galleries. A key requirement was that the building should be sensitive to the surrounding context to integrate effectively with the UCD campus. Won in an international design competition organised by the RIAI, the scheme aims to be timeless and inclusive as well as belonging to eastern and western cultures to facilitate cultural sharing and exchange. The design is inspired by Chinese courtyard buildings as well as cloisters found in western architecture, where learning and contemplation are linked with the ritual of walking, and student wellbeing is enhanced by proximity to nature.
© Donal Murphy
Located on a greenfield, lakeside site at the heart of the University College Dublin (UCD) campus, the 2,059m² building takes the form of a tiered glass pavilion in the landscape, designed to complement the scale and character of the existing campus while making subtle reference to forms...