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Project Name: The Iveagh Garden Hotel

Location: Dublin, Ireland

Date Completed: February 2018

Architect: John Duffy

Interior Designer: Kathy Ryan from John Duffy Design Group

Hotel Group: McGill Family

Construction Company: McGill Construction

The Iveagh Garden Hotel is a city centre hotel situated on a busy street, the hotel has 150 bedrooms, with a bar/bistro, function room and lower level bar/lounge. The hotel design is classic and contemporary in style, with a mix of old and modern. A mix of dark timbers, brass, mirror, marble, and rich velvet fabrics give the hotel a warm and richly textured feel. The brief for John Duffy Design Group was to deliver a 4*star hotel, including bedrooms and public spaces, that offers every comfort to the modern traveller and provides a unique experience in the heart of Dublin, next to the majestic Iveagh Gardens. Whilst also being a hotel, it was imperative to attract a local clientele where they feel welcomed and at home in an inviting destination bar and bistro.

Taking the clients requirements, the location and being sensitive to the existing Georgian buildings features and history, John Duffy Design Group’s aim was to deliver a classic, original and timeless space that encompasses all these elements.  The designer’s favourite aspect of the design is the mix of contemporary art-deco styled furniture against the backdrop of the Georgian windows, and the layers of different textures used throughout including brass, acrylic, deep tones of timber, marble and vibrant stone. The hotel is a green energy hotel, and is the first of its kind in Europe, so trying to source as much materials and finishes within Ireland was a pleasure for the designers.

The Iveagh Garden will source all of its energy from an underground river, running 50 meters below the hotel. Large turbines will convert power from the river Swan to meet all of the hotel’s energy requirements. The ground-breaking energy system uses turbines which were installed by Eurotech Renewables, and Swedish company Ochsner Warmepumpen and will be the first time it has been used in Europe.

John Duffy Design Group feel that the hotel design successfully integrates into its wider environment, on one side of the building is a busy Georgian street in Dublin city centre and the other side is the beautiful Iveagh Gardens, which the designers feel has been integrated by allowing the trees from the gardens to be viewed from every angle possible, and opening the roof to allow for a large rooflight. The design works well as it encompasses all the necessities required to make it a destination bar, restaurant, meeting place and place of rest to both the local professional and business or leisure traveller, in a welcoming environment that easily transitions for any function both day and night.