Improving access to education for local people of all ages is one of the key objectives of the Dublin Docklands master plan. Yet the major facility designed to provide opportunities for life-long learning in the area has been greeted with deep scepticism by the Department of Education.

The original concept for such a "Saol Scoil" was put forward by the Riverrun consortium, headed by architect Sean O Laoire, in its 1997 draft master plan for the 1,300-acre docklands area, a part of Dublin long characterised by low educational attainment and high unemployment.

Last October, a significant step was taken towards achieving this objective when the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) gave its endorsement to a bold plan by Prof Joyce O'Connor, president of the National College of Ireland (NCI), to relocate from Ranelagh and greatly expand on a Docklands campus.

Known for years as the National College of Industrial Relations, NCI had run into planning problems which restricted the potential of its Sandford Road site of just under four acres. That site was sold recently for £12.6 million, raising a substantial contribution towards the Docklands project, now estimated to cost £31 million.

In many ways, it seemed to be a good match. The NCI's activities already "mirrored the Saol Scoil concept", according to Prof O'Connor, while the DDDA was seeking a suitable educational institution which would put life-long learning into action in a "campus without walls" targeted at the Docklands communities in particular.

Both the DDDA and the NCI see the college as a bridge between local people and the business community operating in the International Financial Services Centre. The DDDA was so enthusiastic it provided a free site of 1.3 acres within the 12-acre IFSC extension, where land was selling for up to £10 million an acre.

Prof O'Connor emphasised that the authority's decision to back the scheme was made before her brother, Sean Fitzpatrick, who runs Anglo Irish Bank, joined its board. "They saw that there was a natural synergy between our mission, which is to open access to education, and their objective to provide a college in Docklands."

Originally earmarked for Spencer Dock, the project was switched to the 12-acre site after it became apparent it could be caught up in the planning row over the proposed National Conference Centre. This was a safer option and, once secured, NCI selected Burke-Kennedy Doyle and Partners (BKD) as its architects after interviewing six firms.

"We wanted the building to be open and welcoming, to bring people into it without realising that they were going into a third-level institute. It needed to have dynamism, to convey an excitement about learning that perhaps wouldn't be the case in other institutions and to provide a range of community facilities for people in the area."

Martin Jones, the BKD partner in charge of the project, says he was immediately attracted by the aspirations of the NCI's brief. He also knew, as someone living close to its Sandford Road base, it was "not really a straightforward college, but something quite unique" and this may have given BKD the edge over other firms.

He was determined to draw a contrast between the college and the "very serious corporate buildings" that would virtually surround it. Mainly designed by Scott Tallon Walker, to uniform parapet heights laid down by the DDDA's planning director, Terry Durney, these austere ground scrapers are, if anything, too low-rise.

Some relief would be provided by the NCI's chamfered circulation drum and a translucent Teflon canopy over its central landscaped courtyard. Meanwhile, the vast recessed corner entrance - dramatically glazed to signify its open access policy - would generate activity at ground level from students milling around it.

The entrance opens on to a new square at the north-west junction of Mayor Street and a new street called Excise Walk. But with the Chesterbridge scheme of private apartments acting as a virtual barrier between the college and the community it is intended to serve, Mr Jones wanted to ensure it would be read as a "beacon".

The very light translucent canopy would glow in the dark, long after the adjoining office blocks are shut down for the night. The architects were also "very taken" by the idea that the heart of the college - its slightly elevated ground floor - would "splurge out" into the rather severe geometrical lines of the DDDA's new square. The college's library would run along its north front, with windows to the street. Also on the ground floor, there would be a restaurant opening out on to Excise Walk, a cyber cafe aimed at young people in the area, a family resource centre that would be a cut above the normal creche, and access to the main 270-seat lecture theatre.

According to Prof O'Connor, this theatre could also be used for community arts events drawing on the "strong traditions" of an area that produced film-maker Jim Sheridan and writer Peter Sheridan, among others. Space would also be made available in the college's concourse areas for exhibitions by local schools.

Architecturally, the overall concept is a "campus" of buildings arranged around a large landscaped courtyard at second-floor level, protected from inclement weather by its Teflon roof. The more uniform upper levels of classrooms, meeting rooms and staff offices are accessed by glazed walkways extending from the central drum.

Warm brick or timber cladding, and clear glass set in timber windows, as shown in the photographs of the model made by David Murphy, would further distinguish the college from its near-neighbours. "We didn't want to use stone, curtain walling, tinted glazing or aluminium panels because this is not an office building," Martin Jones explained.

The adjoining site to the east is to be developed as an apartment block, under the revised planning scheme prepared by Urban Projects. If this is used to provide student residential units as part of the DDDA's commitment to social housing in the Docklands, rather than yet another tranche of private flats, the NCI would be delighted.

The site is quite accessible and will become even more so in the future with a Luas light rail line running along right beside it on Mayor Street and, even sooner, a new DART entrance/exit at the IFSC's Harbourmaster Square, beside Connolly Station. There is also talk of a Docklands area bus service, to be known as DABS.

Mr Jones, who knows the area well from his experience on the Custom House Docks site, says part of the reason for the college's high price-tag is that ground conditions are quite difficult because it was once part of the Liffey estuary. Excavations are required to provide basement parking for cars (120 spaces) and bicycles. The Department of Education is not convinced. It insists the sums don't stack up, either in terms of student numbers (projected at 8,000, most of them part-time) or costings which were "well over twice the level of similar developments elsewhere". But Prof O'Connor believes the Department is not comparing like with like.

"There has been a lot of misunderstanding, and we've asked to meet the Minister (Micheal Martin) and the Department to discuss the matter," she says. "I am confident that we can address the issues with them." She also points out the project has unqualified support from Docklands residents and the business community.