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Nevertheless, he persevered and eventually received funding to test his ideas by building what was to become the Green Building: "I applied to Europe to get funding and they gave us, in today's money €3 million," he says.
Good news for Cooper but the European funding did come with some strings attached. Ironically, these conditions have actually helped the building and play to its strengths: "It had to be city centre and it had to be a mixed-use development," he says.
On receipt of the funding Cooper ploughed on, working with Murray O'Laoire Architects to design what he considered to be a kind of 'building of the future': "I took all of the best features of the Museum Building and built them into this building – it has a big atrium in the centre and has external insulation," he says. "The atrium opens and closes which changes the whole characteristics of the building."
As a result of the seasonal change in the building's profile, the Green Building adapts to the weather conditions, cooling in summer and retaining heat during the winter months.
"I also kept window to wall ratios low," says Cooper, "and designed a very high radiant surface area so that you can heat the building using very low temperature hot water."
Resident Miriam Barror standing at the Bay Window which revolves on rails to convert to a balcony when required
Urban life
Miriam Barror, a financial executive with Forbairt Naíonraí Teoranta, a voluntary organisation that supports the promotion of education and children's care services in Irish, lives in a two bedroom apartment in the Green Building.
"It's a gorgeous apartment," she says. "The atrium is beautiful – the roof opens to let in cool air – the electricity is cheaper [and] the two bedroom apartments have bay windows that move around to create a balcony" she says. "I don't pay for heating at all."
She is also keen to stress that life in the Temple Bar district has other sustainability benefits: "In terms of living in the city centre, you can walk everywhere you need to get to."
Miriam's experience of the building has been overwhelmingly positive, noting that it does not feel like a typical Dublin apartment in many ways: "This is a really solid building," she says, "it's a really solid structure with high ceilings."
Despite the apartment's relatively compact size, good ergonomic design has resulted in a suitable space for living: "The kitchen is quite well designed – everything has a space," she says, the only real criticism being that "a bigger hot press would be nice."
Noise is also a factor with apartment living. After all, it isn't unusual to have four neighbours – two at the sides and one above and one below – or more. According to Miriam, the Green Building does not suffer from serious noise problems: "It has been designed to keep noise-flow to a minimum. Once you shut the door, you're sorted."
Having lived in the building for some time, Miriam has recently bought her apartment – a sure sign that the experience of living in the building is a positive one: "I can't wait for summer, I'm expecting very low electricity bills," she says.
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