PAC Studio Limited is a collaborative architectural and environmental design practice founded in 2007 by Graham Petrie and Peter Crowley. The directors have worked together since 2000, originally with Bucholz McEvoy Architects on several award-winning projects, including the Elmpark Urban Quarter in Dublin.
The work of our practice is underpinned by good briefing – listening to and understanding our clients’ requirements and constraints. Through developing a shared vision with our clients, we seek and develop design opportunities that add value for our clients, building users and wider society. Through our integrated and collaborative approach to sustainable design, we deliver upon – and exceed – expectations.
This dialogue extends to the design teams, contractors and craftspeople we work with, particularly in developing innovative architectural responses and environmental strategies to the brief. Our clear development and presentation of the design ideas includes making physical models at a range of scales, in support of sketches, drawings and BIM modelling. This ensures clear communication of design at every stage.
Our design process and studio approach ensures that each project can develop as a unique and specific design solution, always seeking to surprise and add value for our client without compromise on programme, quality or economy. Designing beautifully simple solutions to seemingly complex problems or situations is what we do best.
Architecture and Environments
Our integration of environmental design strategies with architectural design and spatial organsiation is key to the quality of experience for those using our spaces, in terms of stimulation, comfort and wellbeing. We achieve this by seeking to reduce energy consumption through our design strategies of natural ventilation, passive solar heating and good quality daylighting.
We look to maintain a relationship with our clients and buildings after completion and handover. Feedback from users, energy monitoring and post-occupancy research are aspects of the design process that we actively seek out to critically assess our own work in developing and improving our strategic design approaches. This has proven to be of benefit to our clients, with ongoing improvements and adaptation of existing buildings giving further economic and environmental value to each project over longer time cycles of refurbishment.
Clients and Feedback
Importantly for our clients, we employ a practice stucture that enables our directors to remain intimately involved in our projects at all stages. We work for a range of clients in the private and public sectors, including the Office of Public Works, An Gardia Siochana, the Health Service Executive, Housing Associations, Local Government Agencies and a number of private companies and developers. Our commissions range from private residential to communal housing, offices, workplaces, healthcare, industrial and retail projects including conservation, landscape and interior design services.
Rigorous management through the design and construction stages is fundamental in our successful implementation of this approach to deliver unique projects that exceed expectations. Quality of design is continuously balanced with the budgets and timescales our clients demand.
Our design approach has been recognised by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland, with a Commendation for for Best Emerging Practice in 2012 and subsequently PAC Studio was awarded for the Best Commercial Project of 2017 – a town centre food market and restaurant in Malahide, County Dublin. We have been shortlisted for the Building of the Year Award 2019 for our Cliff House in Howth, and for the Fit Out Awards 2019 for our Gardai Legal Offices on behalf of Office of Public Works.
We were invited to exhibit our work in the Summer Show for the Royal Hibernian Academy in 2012, and our research work on the environmental performance of Local Authority Buildings in Ireland has been presented at a number of conferences and published in the UK by the Royal Institute of British Architects, 2017.
