Eyre Square reopens

[GregF]

Saw on the paper that Eyre Square is to finally reopen tomorrow after the long debacle. Any proud Galwegians got any photos of it. Whats the opinion on the new look?

[PVC King]

Yeah Fin

get the finger out

[Maskhadov]

any pics of the finished square ???

[Paul Clerkin]

well the fencing doesnt come down until thursday so...

[kite]

Saw on the paper that Eyre Square is to finally reopen tomorrow after the long debacle. Any proud Galwegians got any photos of it. Whats the opinion on the new look?

I wonder if the former City Manager, Mr.Joe Gavin walked in Eyre Square next week, would the people shake his hand or try to hang him from the nearest tree,,if there are any trees left??

[GrahamH]

Very few sources on the internet which is disappointing.
Looked a bit like Tellytubbyland on the News this evening - I'm sure it's much less dull in real life

[purple1703]

Hey,

I'm from Galway. Im glad it has reopened after 2 years of mucking around and 9 million later its reopened today. What a waste of money it was absoutly fine the way it was. Quite a bit of underdground work was done but it could hace cost that much!!

I dont have pics but if you log on to http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie they should have the finished product. They kept us all updated with weekly photos.

It will be bueatifull in the summer when the sun is shining and pple kixking the ball around...picnics... al will be well but what a waste of money!!!!

[Peter Fitz]

not a waste at all, the square was in diar need of a coherent plan.

[BTH]

God it really annoys me when people say "it was fine the way it was", "what a waste of money" etc etc... The square was an absolute disgrace before the renovation started, a mess of poor planting, stunted trees, horrible 60's paving and even more horrible street furniture and bus stops. Are people's memories so short?

It's by no means perfect now, the paving material used on most of the surfaces is utter crap, stone aggregate slabs that look no better than bog standard concrete with too-wide jointing and lots of chips and cracks appearing already. The paving also shows up dirt and grease to a shocking extent, especially in the otherwise quite nicely done "market" area at the top of the square and the overriding grey-ness can look very grim on wet days.

However, substantial areas have been paved with proper stone which looks fantastic, the green areas are looking beautiful and the limestone clad walls that mark the changes in level and define pathways look great (potential skateboarder's paradise though..). The fountain is looking quite snazzy though would have been better left flush with the ground. The street furniture, light fittings, bus stops etc all look great. And the bound gravel/resin surface along the curved route through the square is really nice as well.

I do wish that the browne doorway had been removed from the square and placed into the city museum as originally planned. It's really deteriorating rapidly and could do with being sheltered properly and it looks completely wrong standing in the middle of the new triangular plaza at the top of the square. The plaza is rightly focussed on the rusty sails sculpture but the doorway really fragments the space and takes away from what could be a spectacular public gathering place. The kiosk and toilets have been clad in copper which, as ive said in another thread, is a huge mistake - it looks fairly cliched and it's also going to look disgusting after it's been grafittid, puked/pissed on and stoot up against for a few weeks. Copper cladding is not suitable for ground level uses!! It can't be effectively cleaned.

Overall im very impressed and happy with the scheme, However i hope that sense prevails and that the horrible paving gets replaced sooner than later with proper stone as should have happened in the first place. How come O'Connell St, Henry St, Patrick St. in Cork etc etc could all be paved completely in high quality stone and Galway had to settle for cheap and nasty crap...

[kite]

....St, Patrick St. in Cork etc etc could all be paved completely in high quality stone and Galway had to settle for cheap and nasty crap...

Have you seen Patrick St. in Cork recently?, Joe Gavin seems to have a thing for continental style streets that work in Nice, Rome etc, but in grey Cork or Galway??

[Devin]

Saw on the paper that Eyre Square is to finally reopen tomorrow after the long debacle.

Great! Been putting off a trip to Galway for ages.

I suppose somebody will have pictures of the finished job sooner or later. So as a prelude, here's a few pictures of the square in 1997:









The dwarf wall - a 1960s landscaping classic!!

[Paul Clerkin]

any pictures of this yet?

[GrahamH]

Nationwide will be coming from the newly opened Eyre Square tonight at 7pm on RTÉ One.

Also, rather than start a new thread, Ruairi Quinn will be on Rattlebag on Radio 1 tomorrow at 2.45pm, discussing his career in, and ideas about architecture. Will be available on this page afterwards:

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/rattlebag/

[BTH]

In case anyone missed the pics...

http://www.archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=3850&page=2

[jdivision]

Was in Galway at the weekend, very disappointed. Copper's already marked around the toilets. Just felt the whole thing was a let down.