Dunnes Stores Patrick St

[d_d_dallas]

Dunnes taking shape. Refreshed facade has it's plus and minus aspects.

[d_d_dallas]

Promoting more active side street usage...

[d_d_dallas]

What he giveth with one hand he taketh away with the other...

[d_d_dallas]

Roofline...

[d_d_dallas]

This revamped Dunnes is next to the Academy St development - materials etc are strikingly similar. In effect 2 city blocks have become very homogenous. That said I think the Dunnes effort at this stage looks better than the Academy St one.

[Angry Rebel]

Agree on the facade, but think it tends to the negative overall. Too many different styles to the facade.

[Chris_533976]

The two centre parts of the facade are gorgeous and are a welcome break from the generic glass box thats appeared all over Ireland recently. The glass box on the left looks ridiculous and should never have been considered, let alone built.

[malec]

^^ You mean the part on the left here?




I actually kind of like this, I was expecting the worst originally. The academy street development looks awful though, especially the top three floors

[KeepAnEyeOnBob]

Yep, I think the glass box just spoils the whole effect on the front - very disruptive and ugly.

Still, as a recent development, it's a lot nicer than the Dunnes Stores on Henry St. in Limerick, but probably only because of the decent part of the facade.

[jungle]

I actually have more problem with the stupid first floor window on the right than I have with the glass box.

It looks like someone stuck it on as an afterthought.

[bosco]

What is it with those horrible cladding tiles we're seeing on so many developments in the last few years? Immediately springing to mind are the school of music, new airport terminal (and fire station), academy street and dunnes, plus plenty more. It's like the only choice available is the beige marble type tiles or the grey plasticky cladding. Legoland becomes reality.

[Tuborg]

I actually have more problem with the stupid first floor window on the right than I have with the glass box.

It looks like someone stuck it on as an afterthought.

I was wondering about that nonsense myself. I don't seem to recall that building having a bay window previously!:rolleyes:

As for the contemporary addition to the side. Well it just looks really crude alongside the highly decorative adjoining building! Would a more traditional design not have been more appropriate here?

[Radioactiveman]

Here's the original building from the stores opening in 1944:



Bay window is a throwback to the original. Also nice to see they've replaced the groundfloor shopfront of this particular building (which housed the first ever Dunnes Stores) with something in keeping with the original.
The most recent shopfront had obliterated everything at this level.

[Tuborg]

A throwback of sorts I guess. Its a pity the shopfront on the two central buildings isnt a bit more respectful, although its still a huge improvement on what went before it.

When is this store due to re-open?

[na Gopaleen]

The whole facade is a complete mess. What is this, the holy trinity plus one!

[jdivision]

The old facade looks good, the new one's a dreaful contrast. I don't know why the glass is so inset, visually it causes it to jar a bit.

[rumpelstiltskin]

It'd look a lot better if each section of it was painted a different colour. Then it would fit in with the heterogeneity of the rest of the street (and of Cork for that matter).

[mickeydocs]

Dunnes are passing this building off as a homage to Ben Dunne Senior... he must have been very popular

[Radioactiveman]

Dunnes seem to be ramping up their 65th Birthday celebrations. Presumably, the grand opening here will be a massive part of that. Anybody hear an opening date? Given the company's extreme reluctance to speak publicly about anything, I wouldn't be surprised if we woke up one morning and it was open.
I'd like to vote for John Spillane singing 'Dunnes Stores Girl' at the opening though

[MrX]

Aren't Dunnes Stores re-branding as DUNNES ?

If so, there'll be some very ready faces when Margaret Heffernan arrives down and all the signage has to be redone!

[Radioactiveman]

Opening in early September according to reports in today's Examiner.

[dmndnn]

Aren't Dunnes Stores re-branding as DUNNES ?

If so, there'll be some very ready faces when Margaret Heffernan arrives down and all the signage has to be redone!

Yes i believe they are all being rebranded as DUNNES with the exception of the Patrick Street store, I think it has something to do with it being the very first Dunnes Stores

[Cathal Dunne]

The place looks a terrible jumble. It looks like four buildings which have been thrown together against their collective will. They would have been better to use the facade of the centre-left quarter and extend it over the other 3 quarters. It's nice, traditional and well-balanced. It would also be appropriate given that it is celebrating something historic - an anniversary. The modern part is very poorly judged. It makes the building unbalanced. The lettering "Dunnes Stores" also looks as if it is out of line.

[GrahamH]

Fully agreed, d_d_dallas, that the Dunnes development is better than the Academy Street effort, the latter of which is retail architecture at its wallpapering worst - thin, weak, incoherent, false, chaotic at roof level, and thoroughly uninspired overall. Dunnes by contrast (literally) has a managed to inject considerably more style and sense of permanance - dare one even say a dash of urbanisim - into their ensemble, with a more controlled palatte of materials used in a distingushed manner. The high contrast stone finishes coupled with crisp angular forms is refreshing and eye-catching, if predictably detailed in parts. The side elevations I thought looked particularly interesting, but how they work as new street frontages I couldn't observe, with the rights of way still sealed off. There is a concern that they will be unduly monolithic with acres of dead frontage. Hopefully not.

The Patrick's Street elevation does not photograph well, looking considerably better in real life. Taking account of the wider jumbled streetscape, I think it does a reasonable - if arrogant - job in expressing the 21st century Dunnes. Its form is sharp and distinctive, and the expansive glazing not without justifcation at this junction. The extensive variety of building shapes and other streets punctured in the streetscape along this stretch makes such a prominent feature fit in rather comfortably. The glazing is inoffensive, and is something that can be replaced with ease at any point. Indeed, it appears almost as though a mere transitional phase in the terrace's evolution; standing as an interesting monument to the transient character of modern retailing, it being highly likely that something else will be occupying this site in twenty years time.

Also agreed that none of the branded lettering works. It is comprised of overly-bulky and protruding internally-illuminated lettering, which is both cumbersome in its own right and inaccurately scaled relative to context almost everywhere it is used on the complex. A shame, as the brand concept itself is quite nice.

[johnglas]

Trying to get a handle on all this stuff as it slowly emerges; Corkonians can no doubt give us an integrated critique once it's all finished. Very much liked the look of the streetlamps at the Academy St (?) dev; are these Cork CC or the developer's? Among the most elegant I've seen (and much better than the overblown stuff on Patrick St). We really need a campaign fo Real Street Furniture.