New Court Complex - Infirmary Rd

[BTH]

I think it's ugly as sin. The way the glass peels back to reveal all the crap on the roof from every approach from the east is unforgivable. Granted, it does look great when you get up close to it and can appreciate the intriguing glazing textures and layering but the overall shape and roof profile is a mess and a real missed opportunity.

[jdivision]

I thought there was going to be more external wood cladding on this.

[Service charge]

I like it. Works as a sort of book end to the City centre. If only we could have something decent on the other end!

[fergalr]

Maybe a statue of justice and a tricolour on it? So people know it's a court building. I really like the building but it could honestly be anything. We could end up with loads of Americans turning up on the weekends, thinking it's the convention centre.

[rob mc]

Doesn't look ten stories to me!

[Bago]

Doesn't look ten stories to me!

Probably because we're so used to 10 storey pencil thin "tower elements". It's a very bulky building making it look shorter but it's very visible on the skyline

[fergalr]

Doesn't look ten stories to me!

It does up close.

[pippin101]

I like its sheer power and size. The view from Wolfe Tone Quay going over the Liffey is awe-inspiring; it towers over the shops and pubs of Parkgate St, a properly scaled urban building with small-town cottages nestling at its feet.

[kceire]

i have some pics that i took while photographing Frank Sherwin Bridge for work yesterday if anybody wants to give me their email address i can send them for uploading?

all taking from Victoria Quay and Wolfe Tone Quay.

[Paul Clerkin]

just send them to me pclerkin@archiseek.com

[AndrewP]

I don't see how this building can be seen as anything but a disappointment given that it's taking over the job of a Gandon masterpiece. It's a fairly decent office block. As the centre of Irish justice though....?

[StephenC]

Its only taking over Criminal cases. Civil matters will still be heard at the Four Courts and the High and Supreme Courts remain where they are.

Personally I think the new building looks very well. Some lovely views of it the other evening from the Pheonix Park as the sun set in the west. The glass and steel were a blaze of orange.

The opportunity now existing to improve the Four Courts and its environs and perhaps even get rid of the more ugly buildings in ist vicinity...adieu Aras O'Dalaigh?

[AndrewP]

Its only taking over Criminal cases. Civil matters will still be heard at the Four Courts and the High and Supreme Courts remain where they are.

Criminal law is all the good stuff!

[Cathal Dunne]

They've put a metal design on the wall to the right of the main entrance with what looks like Lady Justice and her famous scales. If they put up a name for the courts in Irish and English beside that then people will know that it's not just another corporate office block or conference centre.

What is the new complex to be called, btw? Is it really going to be called the Central Criminal Court Complex? I like its alliterative quality.

[johnglas]

The opportunity now existing to improve the Four Courts and its environs and perhaps even get rid of the more ugly buildings in ist vicinity...adieu Aras O'Dalaigh?

Absolutely; I've always thought that the Supreme Court bit was somewhat tucked in at the back, which is precisely where it shouldn't be. And the relationship between the rear of the FCs and the (?) Bridewell is an interesting one that could be developed into a shared space. I've always thought it (the Bw) was an interesting and dignified (if sinister) building waiting to happen.

[Peter Fitz]

They've put a metal design on the wall to the right of the main entrance with what looks like Lady Justice and her famous scales. If they put up a name for the courts in Irish and English beside that then people will know that it's not just another corporate office block or conference centre.

Renders indicated that a large harp & signage would be mounted on the stone clad out crop ... which would certainly spell out to Irish people that it was an official building, nothing like a harp laden envelope through the letterbox to scare the bejaysus out of ya, not quite sure what tourists would make of it though

I would have preferred the harp & appropriate signage over the traditional scales, if thats what they've gone for.

[Global Citizen]

I like its sheer power and size. The view from Wolfe Tone Quay going over the Liffey is awe-inspiring; it towers over the shops and pubs of Parkgate St, a properly scaled urban building with small-town cottages nestling at its feet.

It does indeed, I like this building.

[Global Citizen]

Some more pics I took recently.
It may look somewhat obtrusive coming in from the Coyningham road but from a distance the colour and scale of the building doesn't offend.
I think it blends in well with its older neighbours.

[spoil_sport]

I have to disagree completely that this thing has any "sheer power and size". I wonder if anyone not-in-the-know would even notice it. "Design" aside, I find the form very underwhelming, approaching it, viewing it from across the river... it does nothing for me, compared to the (ahem) conference centre bookending the other end of the liffey, which is goddam fugly, it does at least stand out, if not in a good way. These courts, for me have no more presence than the new eircom HQ across the river, or Dundrum shopping centre. I like the glass screen, but the cladding behind it is awful, perhaps using a more intersting cladding behind the glass might have given it different qualities, but as it is...

[StephenC]

All finished....looks good I think.

link to Irish Times

[Peter Fitz]

yeah not bad at all ...

[lostexpectation]

not much room outside

[BTH]

While this building has some positive atributes It still looks like a mess to me. There are too many ideas fighting for attention particularly in the cladding, it has too much bulk to look remotely elegant and it's contribution to the public realm is pathetic for such a prominent building. The blank black spandrel glazing all over the penthouse floor is particularly cheap and nasty looking, especially since the main "feature" glazing with it's stainless steel edging is nicely done. It's such mismatches that make the building so frustrating for me. The bits that are done well make the bits that are poor look even worse than they would normally.

The opportunities for an innovative and exciting public building at this site were endless given it's magnificent setting at the edge of the Phoenix Park. Regrettably we've been left with a blot on the landscape that will undoubtedly date terribly given it's overreliance on mod-ish cladding. Seems a bit like a 21st century Hawkins House in this regard.

[Global Citizen]

not much room outside

Room for what...........

Public hangings ?

[gunter]

I'm with BTH on the cladding, and the front is too much corporate-office-block and not enough civic-building, but the rear, facing Montpelier Hill, has an interesting massing.