Trinity College Dublin

[spoil_sport]

Despite criticisms of style and similarities with other buildings elsewhere in Dublin, which to an extent I agree with, the new Long Room Hub feels right in the context. I think the proverbial glass box as thebigC suggested, would have been utterly incongruous here, given that it is not relating just to the reading room. The presence of the arts block, the old library and the berkely library preclude the simplistic reading of "old vs. new". In this sense, it is of its place and its age, and in a few years when the shine and lime-light is off it, it will sit comfortably here, but still hold enough detail that it will be able to stand on its own merit and the comparison in post 243 above explains why.

[Cathal Dunne]

Now that the scaffolding and hoardings are down from around the Long Room Hub and they are working on details, the building keeps getting better and better. It fits very well with the buildings surrounding Fellows' Square, the black skirting is a huge improvement on the mottled concrete which used to be there and the cladding is a beauty to behold. A fine job which exceeds my expectations.

[notjim]

Timlapse video of the Long Room Hub

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CRRkPmUwfas&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CRRkPmUwfas&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[gunter]

I agree with the other positive comments, this 'Long-Room-Hub' building raises the bar big time. It combines simplicity with sophistication, and brings an artistic attention to composition and proportions that we haven't seen in these parts in a long time.

The placing of the building in a tricky context [or I suppose more correctly, the design of the building to fit the tricky context] looks completely successful to me now that it's done, so I'll have to hurriedly draw a veil over earlier misgivings.



I should probably stop talking now.





. . . but this being archiseek, it'd be a shame not to chuck in a few reservations.



I'd remain a bit concerned that the crispness in the stone cladding may have been delivered at the expense of all the clumsy weathering details that traditionally we've always incorporated to prevent external stonework from quickly becomming damaged and stained by frost and rain. Unless I'm missing something, all external weathering relies on a 5mm mastic gun.

Lets hope that performs better here than it's been doing around gunter's bath tub.

Another reservation I'd have is with the design of the entrance. This area seems to have changed since the model was presented and neither version looks entirely resolved. Two elements that are completely concealed in the rest on the building, the concrete core and the structural steel frame, make a surprising appearance in the periphery of the grand entrance, and both look like an after-thought.



Over the entrance steps, a pair of white painted steel beams hold up a heavy, and apparently functionless, block of stone cladding while lower down some black painted steel frames lurk beside the lift shaft.

The smooth finished concrete of the lift shaft [which makes the grand stepped entrance possible in these days of universal access] flanks the main entrance and is oddly not clad in stone - given the prominence of it's location.

If the concrete finish is a reference to the great Berkley Library opposite, I'm not sure if the reference really works. The board-marked concrete of the Berkley is clearly intrinsic to that building, both in terms of structure and expression. At the Berkley there's a clever parity of esteme between the poured concrete elements and the refined granite cladding that weds the consciously modern building to it's venerable old campus setting.

You're tempted to ask, if the poured concrete at the Long-Room-Hub was an acceptable finish for the entrance way, why was it not an acceptable finish elsewhere?

Anyway, these are just minor reservations, overall I think this is a wonderful addition to Trinity and the city.

[Cathal Dunne]

Anyway, these are just minor reservations, overall I think this is a wonderful addition to Trinity and the city.

I agree and the way in which the entrance evolved surprised me too. I thought that the gaps above those white-painted girders would be filled with glass panelling.

Now that the building is almost complete, I feel that it could have been larger since there is still a lot of space behind it. However, that may not have been structurally possible given that the actual building is over a rather large lecture hall.

On a related matter, the height of the Biosciences Development has surprised me. I was walking down that part of Town last week and it is substantially complete. They are building the green roofing unit now and it towers over Pearse St. I'd like to see a measurement of its height. I'd say it's at least as tall as Apollo House.

[Paul Clerkin]

Agreed Gunter, the staircase and entrance looks unresolved - detracts a lot from the design for me.

[notjim]

I haven't seen it but know people who have and they say the LRH is unexpectedly awesome inside; great detailing, lovely materials.

[Peter Fitz]

I don't mind the staircase so much as the exposed steel beam. Overall though, the building certainly fits, I think they got the scale and footprint just right.

[missarchi]

The stone looks more porous than the original Grafton.
The stone parapets with no lead might look interesting in a few decades?

[thebig C]

I still dislike its impact on viewing from the main Sq, but, overall its not a bad little building. I agree about the staircase, shades of the builders running out of materials:)! I would have thought that a continuous stone balustrade/rail and steps more in keeping.

[Cathal Dunne]

Trinity's Biosciences Development on Pearse St. is nearing completion and it really does dominate the area. I had a look at the website and I counted 11 floors to this building which, assuming a floor height of 4.5 metres, would give the building a height of 49.5 metres. This would be of nearly the same height as Alto Vetro and the Millennium Tower. Given that the building has a much greater floor-plate than either of those two towers, this will be an imposing edifice indeed.

[notjim]

Dental School extension: exterior photo

http://twitpic.com/296ksc

[notjim]

I just saw the interior of the Long Room Hub, fantastically, even intrusively, good.

[notjim]

Some pics:

http://twitpic.com/2mnrq2

http://twitpic.com/2mnn5t

http://twitpic.com/2mnph8

[notjim]

The Lir: The TCD and Cathal Ryan Trust National Academy for the Performing Arts has a website now.

http://www.thelir.ie/

Of interest is the plan to build the academy on the corner of the enterprise center nearest Grand Canal Dock and Pearse St. The website has a picture

http://www.thelir.ie/the-building.html

but it isn't clear if this is just a place holder or a genuine design.

[paddyb]

God that's ugly. A brutalist municipal swimming pool.

[StephenC]

As a use, it would be a good addition to the area.
I had heard of previous plans to redevelop this site way back when... TCD seem to be on a roll with new developments.

[notjim]

@paddyb: there is a good chance that that picture is just for putting on brochures etc, it is interesting that the college is intending to build something with a culture use on that corner and, to me at least, impressive that they have raised substantial philanthropy and established the link with RADA, I could be wrong, but I wouldn't worry too much about the actual picture.

@StephenC The LRH was paid for by PRTLI4 and they were very lucky with the fall in building costs, it is among the best finished academic buildings I've been in, the Pearse Street development is being paid for by PRLTI5 and was an amazing win for the college, it won big in that round. The stables came from philanthropy and is fabulous. Long may this roll continue.

[notjim]

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2010/09/19/story51745.asp

SBP on the Lir: "Designed by Smith Kennedy Architects" so perhaps that is the actual design, I completely missed the planning permission; it is 2335/10

[notjim]

Smith Kennedy designed the Maynooth version of this project, before whatever happened happened to cause it to move to TCD.

[gunter]

What is it with Trinity College and Pearse Street, do they just not give a shit?

[notjim]

How do you mean gunter: do you mean the Lir? I assume that the philanthropic trust behind the academy wanted to stay with the same architects they had already been working with; the academy will add a cultural asset to the street.

Perhaps you are referring to the biosciences building; I agree it is over-scaled. Of course, the college footprint is under huge pressure and there is so little money; to avoid overdevelopment of the site the city council needs to make touching gifts of land, as city councils elsewhere with city centre universities do.

[gunter]

Yes the Leer, the Bio-Steroid block, the Goldsmith barracks, Luce-off-square-with-diagonals, business park Naughton, the blanked-off streetscape . . . . Trinity has been a patron of architectural excellence in Dublin for three hundred years . . . . but when it comes to Pearse Street . . . .

[notjim]

I knew about the other stuff, I was just wondering what the new irritant was! I think the situation with the Lir is very complicated.

Luas Hall is a funny one, not really the college's fault, it follows the line of the proposed widened street; there is a plan to build out to the street line.

[Cathal Dunne]

Luas Hall is a funny one, not really the college's fault, it follows the line of the proposed widened street; there is a plan to build out to the street line.

You've got trains on the brain, notjim. It's Luce Hall not Luas Hall and named after one of our former Vice-Provosts.

However it would be interesting if it served as a depot on a Pearse St. extension to the Luas BXD line. Then it really could be called Luas Hall.