Reply To: venting views.

MG Wrote:
> As for the apartments, look again at the next new block you see, see the blue RIAI
> sign? That means it was designed by an architect!!!

Nice of the guilty to own up. I know the developer is paying the final bill, and ultimately dictates the size and layout of buildings, but all of the apartments I have seen (and lived in) here in Dublin have been very poorly designed. Here are my top gripes:
* Too many (narrow, twisting) corridors wasted space, requiring artificial light
* Too many units accessed from same entrance
* Apartments lacking in storage space (either in-apartment or in basement)
* Poor levels on insulation (heat and sound) – it is common to have to listed to your neighbours arguments, TV and toilet.
* House rules proscribing hanging laundry outside of bu9ilding – but no alternative arrangements.
In short, the crop of apartments built in recent years are adequate as student lodgings, but don’t meet the requirements for quality high density housing that are essential if the city is to continue to grow.
Isn’t architecture about function as well as form? I don’t mind ugly (or at least bland) buildings, but they should at least work.