Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin

Heritage · LIT Award 2025

Reverent, dramatic and alive with new purpose.

Client

OPW

Architect

7L Architects

Spaces

Great Hall, Baroque Chapel, basement restaurant

Award

LIT Lighting Design Award 2025, Cultural Building & Heritage

Photography

Ste Murray

The brief

Heritage lighting for Ireland’s finest 17th-century building

The Royal Hospital Kilmainham is one of Dublin’s most iconic landmarks and Ireland’s finest example of 17th-century architecture, now home to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).

When the building underwent essential remedial works and upgrades, we were commissioned to design the lighting for the historic Great Hall, the Baroque Chapel with its original timber panelling and stained glass, and the vaulted basement restaurant.

The Great Hall

Ceilings, portraits and plasterwork

The Baroque Chapel

Warm light at the altar

The basement restaurant

A vaulted cellar for dining

01 · Discovery & concept

Testing every detail on mock-up nights

After a detailed survey of the site, we held mock-up nights to test materials, angles and colour temperature, finding a precise balance of light and shadow to bring carvings and ceilings to life.

Warm 2400K tones recall candlelight at the altar, while 2700K high-CRI sources reveal artwork and plaster ceilings. Hidden uplighting adds drama and depth to the papier-mâché ceiling.

02 · Design & technical planning

Concealed light that lets the architecture lead

We kept the lighting out of sight wherever possible. In the Great Hall and the Chapel, concealed fittings are angled to accentuate the height, texture and intricate forms of the ceilings and the chapel timberwork, and they also provide the main functional light for each room.

Every fitting is individually controllable and dimmable, with scene setting for tours and events that staff can operate intuitively.

In numbers

2400K

Warm tones that recall candlelight at the altar

2700K

High-CRI light that reveals artwork and plaster ceilings

Low UV

LED light that protects timber, plaster and paintings

3

Historic spaces: Great Hall, Chapel and vaulted cellar

03 · Construction & procurement

Lighting that conserves as well as illuminates

Mock-up testing let us finalise the specification across all three spaces, including eliminating UV light to protect the Great Hall’s historic paintings.

High-efficiency, long-life LED fittings are serviceable, so engines and drivers can be replaced without discarding the housings. Existing cable routes were reused wherever possible to reduce intervention in the historic fabric.

04 + 05 · Refinement to handover

Scenes set, space by space

Following our detailed drawings, our design team coordinated the contractors on site and finalised the scene setting for each lighting element across all three spaces.

The result reveals heritage craft with subtlety and respect, creating spaces that are at once reverent, dramatic and alive with new purpose.

Gallery

Close-up of the Great Hall's carved plaster cornice and heraldic frieze at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, highlighted by concealed lighting

Carved timber altar and fluted panelling in the Baroque Chapel at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, warmly lit to recall candlelight

Ornate papier-mâché ceiling panel in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham Chapel, accentuated with hidden uplighting

Hand-carved floral timber panelling in the Chapel at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, lit to reveal depth and texture

The Great Hall at Royal Hospital Kilmainham illuminated with layered lighting to highlight its 17th-century architecture

Carved oak panelling and chequered marble floor beneath the Royal Arms stained glass window in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham Chapel

Arched windows and gilt-framed panels along the Great Hall's end wall at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, softly uplit

The Royal Hospital Kilmainham Chapel's principal stained-glass window framed by carved oak and a gently lit altar rail

Vaulted cellar dining room at Royal Hospital Kilmainham's basement restaurant, lit with warm concealed cove lighting

Carved timber pulpit silhouetted against heraldic stained glass windows in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham Chapel

Close-up of a hand-carved timber corbel in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham Chapel, lit to emphasise its three-dimensional detail

Stained glass window and carved timber gallery balustrade in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham Chapel

Curved booth seating beneath a vaulted brick ceiling in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham basement restaurant, lit with warm cove lighting

Long vaulted dining hall in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham basement restaurant, illuminated with a warm ambient lighting scheme

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FAQ

What lighting did Willie Duggan Lighting design at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham?

We designed the lighting for the historic Great Hall, the Baroque Chapel and the vaulted basement restaurant at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin, home of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), as part of essential remedial works and upgrades to the 17th-century building.

Did the Royal Hospital Kilmainham lighting win an award?

Yes. The project won a 2025 LIT Lighting Design Award in the Cultural Building and Heritage Lighting Design category.

How do you light a heritage building without damaging it?

At Kilmainham we used low-UV, low-heat LED sources to protect fragile timber, plaster and artworks, eliminated UV light near the Great Hall’s historic paintings, concealed fittings so the architecture takes centre stage, and reused existing cable routes wherever possible to limit intervention in the historic fabric.