Project Summary
Project Summary
Client: The Irish Heritage Trust
Architect: AXO Architects
Location: Roscommon, Ireland
Value: €5m
Completion Date: Jul-2022

About the Project

The National Famine Museum and Strokestown Park located in Co. Roscommon is a unique and historic attraction comprised of a Georgian Palladian Mansion, the National Famine Museum and 100 acres of gardens and woodland. This project involves the upgrade and extension of current facilities to transform offerings into a new state-of-the-art Museum with the potential to create immersive visitor experiences that bring to life significant stories which have shaped Ireland’s heritage and culture.

The project includes the extension and refurbishment works to the existing visitors centre, including the extension of the café area and creation of an outdoor terrace, and the development of a new visitor centre within the existing courtyard. In addition, extension and refurbishment work will be undertaken on the stable building, including a new lobby, upgrading of toilet facilities and the conversion of the existing ground floor stables into an event space, and upgrade to the existing car park facility.

IN2 were appointed to provide full M&E design and Environmental Analysis. The approach to Energy and Sustainability for the project involved investigating strategies to protect the historic building and its contents, this resulted in the heating installation upgrade ensuring the protection of the building fabric, while resulting in an over 15% carbon reduction for the building.

This project was commissioned to transform the National Famine Museum to attract more tourism while keeping these stories from history alive. The design responded to the brief requirements of creating a 21st-century experience with the deserved respect to the historical property. Every intervention was carefully weighed with the principles of conservation in mind, where new can be reversible or is adding cultural value.
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The National Famine Museum opened in July 2022 and visitors now have a truly immersive experience

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The Museum breathtakingly takes local and national stories from this tragic period in Ireland’s past and brings them dramatically to life.

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Commenting on the opening John O’Driscoll, General Manager at The National Famine Museum & Strokestown Park said, “We are delighted to re-open our doors to welcome visitors to a brand-new experience and we offer a wide a range of things to do for all ages. We are also looking forward to welcoming back visitors who may have been here before and driving visitor numbers further for the tourism industry right across Roscommon and Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.”

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Project Tags:
M&E Design
Sustainability
IN2 Building Life
Extension
Refurbishment
Museums & Galleries
Ireland
Europe