In 2008 Dublin City Council commissioned an Open Ideas Design Competition, the goal of which was to generate debate and discussion on the challenge of in-fill design in historic settings.

The subject site for the competition was No.16 Henrietta Street, a narrow tract of land sandwiched between a contemporary apartment block and one of Dublin's most cuturally significant streetscapes.

Since the brief was concerned with generating discussion rather than a finished product we chose to develop a polemic which addresses not only Henrietta Street but also the historic city centre as a whole.