Integrated Marine Economic Ecology Zone (IMEEZ)
Kilkieran, Ireland
Client: CLEANFISH, SFO, Irish Seafood Producers Group

This project now in preliminary design and master planning is the vision of Tim O'Shea, the CEO of Cleanfish, the major US distributor of high quality farmed seafood products. The project originated with a directive to design a new fish processing plant in the Galway region of Ireland. The Irish Government had set aside a 25 acre piece of land on the sea to create a Marine Business Zone.

Tim's bold vision is to use the entire site not just for a standard fish processing and packing plant, but to include waste water reuse, energy generation and co-generation, a community restaurant and a range of complimentary enterprises including seaweed processing, fish feed innovation using the regional waste stream and an educational and exhibit that teaches about the regions' marine and terrestrial ecology.

Our preliminary sketches show a building that is fully integrated with its rolling hill site.

The extensive cold storage facilities are buried in the hillside and the entire building covered with a vegetative roof. Employees and visitors enter an attractive visitor center/exhibit and café space. Unlike current packing plants, the building is daylit and comfortable to work in.

The significance of this project goes beyond design but truly demonstrates the true meaning of "The Triple Bottom Line," in which economic, ecologic, and social equity and cultural health issues are all part of the larger design.