Join Bernard Seymour Landscape Architects on a guided tour of rooftop garden at Kings Building for Open House Dublin.

Workday invites you to visit their rooftop garden, at Kings Building, Church Street. The building was unoccupied for over 10 years after its boomtime construction, until they decided to move in to expand their Dublin HQ. A setback of the original seventh-floor massing created a vast empty bitumen roof adjacent to the top-floor canteen, with an impressive panorama of the Dublin skyline.

This structure, part pavilion, part shelter, part pergola frames the view sequentially, firstly through new entrance doors and then internally at each bend. The main roof-garden structure delivers the staff out to the 900m2 roof garden, while simultaneously hiding the M&E services behind via a wall of satin-glazing – the planting beyond creating silhouettes through the translucent glass. A sheltered lounge section extends the seasonal use of the garden by shielding colder winds. The final part of the 125m2 timber and steel structure is expressed as an open pergola, framing a 6m span communal dining table, made from the same sustainably-sourced Douglas Fir.

The northern edge of the open garden space is formed by a large raised planter that shields the northern winds and provides a south-facing sloped topography, configured for reclining or lying out to enjoy the better weather. Adjacent to this, the geographic conceit of seeded islands drifting from the main body creates further greening and seating opportunities.

This tour is pre-book only.

Wheelchair accessible
Accessible Toilets
Assistance Dogs welcome