Henrietta Street

[notjim]

Now is your chance: #7 Henrietta St on sale for 1.85 MEur! Let's all chip in.

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/search/brochure/7-henrietta-street-north-city-centre-dublin-co&-city/CAKTS349261

[reddy]

The results of the competition for no.16 Henrietta St are due to go on public display in the next couple of weeks. In the City Council Offices I think. Should be interesting to see the various responses. They received around eighty entries. I presume a winner will be announced before the exhibition.

[newgrange]

Slightly OT, but would anyone have a picture of the original 16 Henrietta Street? Saw it being requested on another forum.

[missarchi]

half of the entry's are already on display at DCC the carpark one is a classic...
be good if Hackett's print properly;)

[gunter]

Had some business in the Planning office today and I got off a few snaps of the Henrietta Street Competition exhibition while I was there.

Even from a two minute inspection, it was clear that the entries could be broken down into a few distinct categories.

For convenience, I've listed them: Glass, Brick, Mesh and Concrete.

Here's one example of each:


Glass


Brick


mesh


Concrete.

That last one is off the wall completely. The exhibition seemed to be well worth a look. As usual though, there was no information about how long the exhibition was to be up for and no external banners or anything to entice the public in.

York Street and Henrietta Street are two threads of a very interesting potential debate that unfortunately isn't actually happening.

[neatdesign]

Hi all,

I took some snaps also, check them out.

http://www.neatdesign.ie then go to the news blog [bottom right].


We are trying to keep our news section up to date with the latest info so if something is going on you think we should know about just email us.



Cheers
neatdesign.

[gunter]

I take it nobody's putting their head above the parapet on this one!

[Devin]

I heard the brick one won. Very Kahn-as-repopularised-by-a-certain-Dublin-office.

[GrahamH]

And extremely interesting. However please do not say it is also intended to incorporate a 'rebuilt' parapet as pictured above? And when was this decision made? Who made it? Has the decision been released?

I always thought this was going to be a case of a toss-up between a conservative-with-a-twist brick scheme and a thoroughly abstract but uber-refined and respectful 'incident'. As such both the mesh and glow-in-the-dark ones both have immense appeal, but suffice to say the stark and stoical, respectful yet individual, grim and foreboding brick number does it for me, What swings it is that it has a tenement quality reflective of the street's history and current character, and that if built, will be sustained long after the thoroughfare (if ever) becomes a smug tuckpointed enclave of charcoal and lavender doorcases.

There are reservations however that the focal Kahn elevation is an overdressed elevation for a minor side street, and is being used for the sake of it being an architectural competition and elevating the scheme beyond that of plain reproduction. Still, very beautiful, and the vaguely gothic/gothick character singing the tune of the 1740s.

[Peter Fitz]

Are the window opes to Henrietta actually to be blanked ? would simple clear glazing cause such offence ? I really think the elevation to Henrietta Place has too much going on.

I'm leaning more towards the mesh, though don't like the change of line as it meets the ground on the side elevation.

[gunter]

. . . the stark and stoical, respectful yet individual, grim and foreboding brick number does it for me, . . . it has a tenement quality . . . that if built, will be sustained long after the thoroughfare (if ever) becomes a smug tuckpointed enclave of charcoal and lavender doorcases.

You are a seriously dark individual!

[hutton]

The brick one works for me. Agree with gunter that the concrete one is "off the wall completely" - what an abomination - who were the culprits responsible for that croc gunter?

I like the detailing on the side wall of the brick proposal - normally such an elaborate treatment for a side lane would be OTT, yet in this instance given Henrietta Streets significance I think it's quite appropriate.

One thing that baffles me though is, what's this about a concrete Jersey barrier separating the lightwell from the pavement? ...Is that being chipped in free-of-charge from the NRA who haven't used it on a motorway? Railings please, and contextually appropriate detailing...

[ctesiphon]

Before I knew which one was the winner, the brick one got my vote. I do think the 'side' is over-detailed, but I like the blind 'front'. Also, as noted by the Assessors, the use of this building was thought about, unlike many of the others which proposed 'museum' or 'gallery' etc. (I'd read their comments, but didn't know to which building they referred.)

This competition also highlights yet again how inappropriate and insensitive the corner building on Bolton Street is.

gunter- neatdesign's blog seems to suggest that the exhibition is only on until Friday. I presume that means until close of business on Friday, unlike a certain other architectural exhibition discussed on here recently.

Graham- what do you mean about the parapet rebuilding? Not sure I follow you. Ta.

[ctesiphon]

Also, in case you haven't seen this:

Ryan W. Kennihan Architects wins Henrietta Street Ideas Competition

Archiseek.com

The commission of an Open Ideas Architectural Design Competition to
address the site of No. 16 Henrietta Street was enshrined as a policy
in the Henrietta Street Conservation Plan, (2006). The competition was
organised by the Royal Institutes of Architects of Ireland (RIAI). The
competition aimed to establish a design framework for the development
of the site, which is informed by the Conservation Plan and best
architectural practice, and to generate debate and discussion on the
challenge of contemporary design as in-fill in sensitive historic
settings. Design approaches were open to each entrant and could
include designs sympathetic to the context and setting without being
archaeologically correct or historically precise, and which is not
pastiche; and infill design that contrasts strongly with the
architectural language, setting and context of Henrietta Street.

http://ireland.archiseek.com/news/2008/000236.html

[GrahamH]

Ah thanks for that link. All questions answered.

From the image it would appear it is intended to built the parapet in a different brick, matching that of the rebuilt 19th century parapet of the adjoining house. Surely the correct thing to do is to rebuilt both parapets in appropriate brick.

Agreed with hutton - the bunker ground floor is not pretty.

You are a seriously dark individual!

You're not the first to say that, alas.

[ctesiphon]

From the image it would appear it is intended to built the parapet in a different brick, matching that of the rebuilt 19th century parapet of the adjoining house. Surely the correct thing to do is to rebuilt both parapets in appropriate brick.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks, and agreed- what a silly idea. It's not as if this is in the category of 'sham ruin'.

[StephenC]

I'd opt for the mesh myself...its hot a very curious quality atht i think would contrast well with the exsting buildings. The glass is boring.

[gunter]

There are a couple of interesting things said about the winning scheme in the competition citation. One thing that strikes me is the praise rightly given to the simple devise of the recessed or 'negative corner' that articulates the reconstructed front facade from the new creation that is the side elevation onto Henrietta Place.

If this is the moment that contemporary architecture redescovers the power of subtlety, this will have been a good day's work.

'Reconstruction' ! that was another forbidden word.

There could be a lot to take from this. Even that side elevation with it's, initially strange, Hanseatic brick arcading is starting to make sense to me. These early Georgian houses were all about their heavy brick solidity, they were the sober anti-dote to the fantastic, precarious, Dutch Billys that predominated in the Dublin urban scene in the 1720s. This winning design takes the sober brick solidity and has a bit of dark fun with it.

Ryan W. Kennihan might have a strange bastardized spelling to his name, but hats off to him, the boy's done well.

[fergalr]

Concrete.

It looks a little like Megatron is trying to couple with the adjoining building...

[GP]

Concrete - set of diving platforms?

How come this street fails in its potential? It is known widely around the world from the many period films it is used in. What would it cost in real money to fix? Why does it never seem to grab the attention of the legal profession for use as cahmbers or the like, surely this is a sympathetic solution?

A street of 18th century palazzios in a moribund part of the city - it seems unreal. I suspect that we will have to wait until the next boom.

The last comment I would make is about the briock option, is lokks good but just brings Breugels Tower of Babel to mind.

http://agnosticatheism.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/babel1.jpg

[Paul Clerkin]

Further images

[ctesiphon]

The right kind of brick is going to be absolutely crucial for this.

Is it planned to be built with traditional techniques, I wonder, or will it be modern? Those look suspiciously like brick jack arches in the third image.

[gunter]

It's not a crematorium, is it?

[neatdesign]

It's not a crematorium, is it?

Nope Gunter, it's a drug cutting lab, hence the bricked up windows.

neatd.

[PVC King]

Close enough to Dominick St the first mega drug mart in the late 1970's to create cluster of knowledge!!

Seriously this is conceptually outstanding; the finish of the brick is just sublime. I really hope this gets built