architecture of queen's university belfast

[Paul Clerkin]

I love Belfast - I nearly studied architecture there - but lacked the concentration at school Had the offer, just didn't make the grades.

Some great architecture on campus there....


Queen's is planning to establish a new Library, The Sir Anthony O'Reilly Library, at the heart of the campus. By appointing the world’s leading library architects, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott based in Boston, who are working in partnership with Robinson Patterson Partnership Belfast, we will ensure that the The Sir Anthony O'Reilly Library is an iconic building, a symbol of our commitment to the pursuit of knowledge. The design process is underway and the project is due for completion in early 2009.

Very American quadrangle....

[Starch]

......The library is at an advanced stage I believe.. http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/Alumni/CampaignforQueens/TheSirAnthonyOReillyLibrary/TheSirAnthonyOReillyLibrary-progressinpictures/#3

....I studied architecture at Queen's; great campus though ironically it seemed as if they put the architecture school in the coldest,noisiest and ugliest building they could find!.....aahhh good times! I will post a list of some of the best spaces and places at the uni....

[Fearg]

......The library is at an advanced stage I believe.. http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/Alumni/CampaignforQueens/TheSirAnthonyOReillyLibrary/TheSirAnthonyOReillyLibrary-progressinpictures/#3

....I studied architecture at Queen's; great campus though ironically it seemed as if they put the architecture school in the coldest,noisiest and ugliest building they could find!.....aahhh good times! I will post a list of some of the best spaces and places at the uni....

Any word on plans for the old library tower block and more importantly the original Lanyon Lynn and Lanyon library building - needs some TLC to remove the unfortunate 1980s interventions..

[Paul Clerkin]

Collegiate Gothic: the Worst Thing That Ever Happened to Campus Architecture?
http://chronicle.com/blogs/architecture/2383/collegiate-gothic-the-worst-thing-that-ever-happened-to-campus-architecture

[Fearg]

Collegiate Gothic: the Worst Thing That Ever Happened to Campus Architecture?
http://chronicle.com/blogs/architecture/2383/collegiate-gothic-the-worst-thing-that-ever-happened-to-campus-architecture

Of course Queen's demolished about a third of their victorian gothic quad in the post war years..

[daithidaithi]

and the original elm's halls opposite the Laynon Building to make way for Ostick and Williams Student Union

[hugop]

Queens own quite a few lovely buildings that they seem to neglecting, presumably in the hope of them becomeing 'dangerous' and needing to be demolished, most notably the very unhappy looking georgian terrace at the top of Upper Crescent. Does anyone know exactly what they are playing at?

[MrADC]

It will bring a amazing building to an already beautiful part of belfast. The innovative flooring they are apparently going to use will be amazing. I have seen mechanically polished concrete in america and europe but never here in Ireland. This will be a first for belfast!!!

are we talking a powerfloated polished screed here?! Hardly innovative - in fact i've got one under my feet at the moment...and they're pretty common in Belfast...

On the issue of Queen's as a client - I can't really think of an institution that has done more to destroy the built fabric of Belfast than Queens- and I include the Luftwaffe and the IRA in that shortlist. From the Queens Elms, the Deaf Dumb and Blind Institute to the Eastern portion of the Quadrangle they have succeeded in destroying three of Belfast's best buildings and replaced them with utter horror shows (Medical Biology Centre, Union and Admin). The Architecture department building is a leaking, cracking joke - a parody of its purpose and the most recent stab at a library was the banal to the point of hideous Heany Library. It just remains a surprise to me that they haven't tried to demolish the Lanyon Building yet...The list of property they own is endless as is the list of buildings in dangerously poor repair (Upper Crescent) or just simply terrible - The Main Library. In fact the only good thing they have ever commissioned is the Ashby Building - so I expect they want to overclad it/paint it blue / demolish it etc etc...

[johnglas]

Mr ADC:

I include the Luftwaffe and the IRA in that shortlist

You're very selective in your 'short' list - is this the latest bit of revisionism? I should have thought that the UDA, UVF,UDR,UDA,RUC, RIR - or whatever the loyalist murder gangs and their fellow-travellers were calling themselves that week - might have made their own modest contribution...