The innovative Residential Care Neighbourhood (RCN) at Grangegorman offers a new vision of a care home setting where social interaction, a domestic-scaled household, and a rich natural environment are key considerations in delivering dignity, comfort and well-being to its residents.

The RCN is centrally located close to the heart of the new Grangegorman site, and is fully integrated within its neighbouring urban setting. A day-care centre, pharmacy and 5 households are embedded within the emerging new network of green fingers and walkways that traverse the site in multiple directions, as part of the Grangegorman Master Plan vision, and the Grangegorman SDZ Planning Scheme requirements. The RCN sits adjacent to the Grangegorman Primary Care Centre, the new Academic Hub and Library (under construction) as well as the new Dublin 7 Educate Together National School; and the general amenity of the wider Grangegorman Site, Neighbourhood and their existing and new communities.

The therapeutic aspects of access to nature are a key driver for the project. This new model of care provides smaller scale households than traditional residential care settings, with small groups of bedrooms gathered around social spaces and generous gardens at all levels.

Instead of a series of separate rooms and corridors, the 5 Households are designed as a sequence of interconnected spaces that are defined in a loose arrangement. This minimises the need for corridors and hallways and allows the rooms to flow between private, communal and external gardens spaces in a series of looped walks.