Irish Architecture News

Drama in the docklands: a new theatre takes shape

Paul Clerkin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:54:38 +0000

Dubliners and everyone else in Ireland, are in for a real surprise when the Grand Canal Theatre at Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2, finally opens its doors on St Patrick’s Day next March with the Russian State Ballet’s production of Swan Lake . At a glance, they’ll see an auditorium that’s twice the size of [...]

Box in the docks reopens after four years

Paul Clerkin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:51:06 +0000

When the OPW built the Box in the Docks – or to give it its official title, the Waterways Visitors Centre – back in the mid 1990s, there’s wasn’t a whole lot going on down in that part of Dublin’s docklands. The white cube-shaped building, accessed via a wooden “gangplank” and built on stilts in the [...]

Opus Awards: design is good for the bottom line

Paul Clerkin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:40:20 +0000

Buildings that fit well into their surroundings and have made the most of awkward sites dominate those which have won awards this year in the 10th annual Opus Architecture and Construction Awards. Each is also a striking building, including Cork County Library by Shay Cleary Architects and BAM Contracting which the judges said “responds to [...]

Grafton Architects talk in the National Gallery

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:34:11 +0000

A talk by Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects will take place in the National Gallery of Ireland on Thursday 12 November at 6.30pm. The architects will discuss their design for Universita Luigi Bocconi in Milan which won them the ‘World Best Building’ Award in 2008, as well as new works. The event will take [...]

Love them or loathe them, but don’t knock them

Paul Clerkin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:35:48 +0000

Why do we love some buildings and hate others? Why have some become icons, while others will forever remain symbols of a hated regime? Do our relationships with buildings, even after demolition, help define them – or us? Sometimes as the song goes, we don’t know what we’ve got ’till it’s gone; and usually it [...]

A Space for Learning: Design competition for architects and schools

Paul Clerkin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:28:30 +0000

A Space for Learning is a design competition initiated by the Irish Architecture Foundation to challenge current thinking on school design, creating an opportunity for architects to collaborate with the end-users of educational spaces -the students. This is a very important project for the IAF, whose role is to raise awareness about the value of architecture [...]

Turnover expected to drop 35% at leading architectural firm

Paul Clerkin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:39:37 +0000

The managing director of one of the State’s best-known architectural firms, Murray O’Laoire, has confirmed that the company is set to make a loss this year with a projected 35 per cent drop in turnover. Calbhac O’Carroll was commenting yesterday on Murray O’Laoire Architects Ltd’s financial results for 2008, which show that the company’s pretax [...]

A home for the Abbey

Paul Clerkin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:27:02 +0000

O dear, the “Whither the Abbey?” roadshow is back in town. There are many reasons why the proposal to move the theatre to the GPO is a flawed idea. Locating the Abbey in the very crucible of Irish nationalism would only serve to strengthen the links between the theatre, the 1916 Rising and the foundation of [...]

€460m gamble on Ireland’s Las Vegas

Paul Clerkin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:54:48 +0000

A replica of the White House will form the centrepiece of a 460 million euro Las Vegas-style village deep in the countryside. Plans for the 800-acre development beside Two-Mile Borris in Co Tipperary include a casino, National Hunt racecourse, a 7,000 seater greyhound track, five-star hotel, a 15,000 seater concert venue – with retractable roof [...]

€460m sport, leisure complex planned

Paul Clerkin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:53:22 +0000

A planning application for what Michael Lowry TD has described as “the most sophisticated and ambitious project that Ireland has ever seen” will be lodged with North Tipperary County Council this morning. The Independent TD was speaking yesterday in Horse and Jockey at the launch of a €460 million cultural, sporting and leisure development featuring [...]

Cork’s Kino arthouse cinema to close over debt to architects

Paul Clerkin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:46:45 +0000

An independent arthouse cinema is to close next month after creditors initiated High Court proceedings to recover more than €50,000 owed to them for design work. Mick Hannigan, who owns the Kino Cinema in Cork, confirmed yesterday he has decided to close the cinema after being served this week with High Court papers over the [...]

RTE to demolish Tallon’s Radio Centre?

Paul Clerkin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:01:09 +0000

RTE recently submitted plans for the redevelopment of their Donnybrook campus. Rising to an overall height of almost 26m (88ft) on its frontage to the dual-carriageway, the complex would taper down to 10.4m (34 ft) facing the long rear gardens of houses along Nutley Road and screened by mature trees. Gradually, existing buildings on the [...]

New kid on the block

Paul Clerkin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:26:06 +0000

The curves and expanse of the elegant stadium roof follow a graceful dive, like the down sweep of a giant skateboard ramp. From the south side, it races from its highest point, falling towards Havelock Square and the city centre. There, it dips dramatically at the north end, where Dart travellers can catch a [...]

Finding a new stage for the Abbey is not a question of location

Paul Clerkin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:24:07 +0000

David Norris’s idea of relocating the Abbey Theatre to the GPO in Dublin is an exciting notion. But it is not a good one. It is, in fact, a rather depressing sign of the weakness of public discourse about the role of the national theatre and the arts in general that the only substantial reference [...]

Recession gives designers the space to be creative

Paul Clerkin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:21:00 +0000

Dublin City architect Ali Grehan is delighted by the ideas, initiative, voluntary effort and sheer energy that’s emerging as a result of the recession. It proves, if proof were needed, that we have more time to think now that the frenetic days of the boom are well and truly over – just as we did [...]