Re: Re: Look at de state of Cork, like!

I cant believe you would even begin to criticise Cork without mentioning the hideous stick-on extension to the Opera House and the frightening office building just down the quay from it currently under construction! Truly a nightmare addition to the city! But as for the “cheap office blocks” giving Irelands architects a bad name; maybe you should check if architects are involved in the design of these buildings at all – which mostly they are not!- before blaming them for something which (lets be honest here) they have no control over! And even though you correctly call Cork Irelands second largest city you are annoyed that “a nice little area” well within the city centre, is being urbanised. Cork cannot reach the significant status you think it deserves without some change! Cork turned its back on positive architectural and urban development when it allowed the freakishly bad Merchants Quay development to be built and the subsequent systematic destruction of its quayside architecture! Corks most valuable asset : the river and its wide quays, boulevard-like in some places, is consistently ignored by developers and now they have ruined Patrick St. too. We are blind to the urban planning and densification mistakes Dublin and even London have made and refuse to learn from it. When will we see that inappropriate housing estate sprawl and ugly office developments are not the way to improve Corks urban image?!?!

Originally posted by speakeasy
This is a great website, really interesting even for the non architect types like me. But whats with all the discussion about Dublin? Cork is Ireland’s second largest city and hardly gets a mention! Theres all sorts of bad stuff going on in this City which needs discussion. I strongly beleive that web sites like this do make a difference and are a great voice.

Lots of new developments which seem to have escaped any public scrutiny at the planning stage (surprise surprise) are being thrown up in Cork. The City is losing its character, fast, because of cheap office blocks which are actually worse than the many mistakes built in the 1960’s.

Take for example the new development on Lapps Quay opposite the beautiful City Hall and next to the even more aesthetically pleasing Cork Savings Bank (now AIB). This, you would think, should be an area to preserve. But sadly the hideous old Eircom building on the Quay is being made look even more awful and a huge area has also been cleared to make way for air raid shelter type apartments and offices. Up the road at Anglesea street, a nice little area with lots of old well preserved buildings, is a new office block, which looks like it was designed by the same people who came up with the EBS building on dame street Dublin. This thing is monstrous, it dwarfs an adjoining pub and looks totally out of character in this street. What is going on? Who designs these things? Does anyone notice how shocking they are? Does anyone care? Cmon you Dubs, Cork is a part of this nation too… pay us some attention! Ireland’s architects are going to get a bad name from all this rubbish being