The Vault
An indoor public space for children, teens, and young adults in the heart of Galway: skatebowl, bouldering, cafe, and flexible event spaces across three levels.
Location: Galway City Centre, Ireland
Year: 2016–17
Client: The Vault
Team: Daryl Mulvihill, Giovanni Lavanna, João Pedro Faria
Size: 1,300m²
Planning: Full planning permission granted June 2017
The Vault will be a 1,300m2 multi-functional sports, arts and events space in Galway City Centre. The Vault aims to provide a much needed resource for children, teens and young adults in the city centre, an active space to socialise, hang out and share and learn. A controlled space filled with positive peers and programming.
The programme runs across three levels. At street level, a cafe and retail space forms the primary entrance — the only active frontage on this stretch of Station Road, and a space that can operate independently from the rest of the building. Below it, a mezzanine level offers a flexible space that can shift between cafe overflow, pop-up retail, workspace, or screening room depending on the time of day.
The main basement space brings three active uses together: a skatebowl at one end, a bouldering wall along one edge, and a central cafe and hang-out area with a soft play corner for younger children. An enclosed room beside the stairs handles workshops, classes, yoga, and screenings.
The skating area was developed through direct consultation with the Galway Skateboard Association — designing for the real demand for sheltered skating through the autumn and winter months.
The Vault is a facility designed around multiple simultaneous uses: not a skate park, not a youth club, not a cafe — all of them together, in a space where different groups share the same space without needing to share the same activity.
