Bridges & Boardwalks
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Isn’t it a pity that this was such a failure, the idea seemed appealing the abstract, but obviously a mistake the moment the kiosks arrived. What went wrong, if they had been somewhere else could this have worked and if so where and selling what?
the boxes themselves wouldn’t do much for any area really … perhaps a couple of elegantly designed kiosks would work on South King St … its not as if the shopping centre’s side elevation has much to offer …pity it didn’t work out alright, but i’ll be glad to see the back of these yokes !
Hallelujah!
Those yokes were desperate. And its amazing how shabby the fridges became in less than 5 years.
@notjim wrote:
Isn’t it a pity that this was such a failure, the idea seemed appealing the abstract, but obviously a mistake the moment the kiosks arrived. What went wrong, if they had been somewhere else could this have worked and if so where and selling what?
I would suggest that 2 units may have worked, (in historic rather than modernist genre of design) but 4 was total overkill.
Imo a key part of the problem is that once they werent being used, they served only as pinch-points where pedestrians were intimidated by anti-social behaviour, which in turn created a spriral of decline, deterring the idea that the units could serve the intended pupose. Completing the pinch-point effect are the seats; how many people do you ever see sitting on this who aren’t begging – probably about as many that sit around the Robocop Plaza beside City Hall…. That said, now that the Fridges are going, maybe the seats can at last function – but please replace those bloody awful looking plastic bins!
Anyhow fair dues to whoever it is in DCC that made the call to get rid of these 🙂
@hutton wrote:
…now that the Fridges are going, maybe the seats can at last function
With Liffey breezes and our climate?
@hutton wrote:
Anyhow fair dues to whoever it is in DCC that made the call to get rid of these 🙂
Agreed- there was something of the rising balloon (the longer you hold on, the harder it is to let go) about these kiosks. Somebody somewhere had to be a bit brave, so credit where credit is due.
Speaking of rising balloons….one was proposed close to here at one stage as part of the (long forgotten) Howley Harrington plan for Temple Bar
@Paul Clerkin wrote:
Good to see them go – now if they could take the horrible lamp standards too
The sea horses????
I’m guessing he means the fairly crude box like fittings installed as part of the scheme.
Sorry, that’s what I meant. Are the kiosks being removed, or is it a guess because they’ve been railed off?
@AndrewP wrote:
Sorry, that’s what I meant. Are the kiosks being removed, or is it a guess because they’ve been railed off?
The Fridges are indeed going. Dammit they looked so suitable as the book market they were intended as :rolleyes:
Theyre gone!
Happy days. Area is still cordoned off, but I am glad to say all 4 units have been removed. 🙂
It was incredible how quickly they vanished – so much so you begin to wonder if it was all a dream when you see the patches of newly laid granite where they once stood. Perhaps that’s the intention 😉
Literally within 3-4 days the bridge was back to normal, though the fencing is still there. Lovely to see the generous expanse of paving again.Only one major quibble, and that’s the obsession in this city with laying drainage channels in the middle of pavements – why can’t surfaces just slope down to the road?! Or at least do what was done on O’Connell Street and make the slope so gradual towards the centre that a single strip of near-level paving slabs acts in itself as the channel, with regularly spaced drains. The current one of moulded shape is ideally designed for tripping over, and sited exactly along the route of heaviest pedestrian traffic.
@Paul Clerkin wrote:
now if they could take the horrible lamp standards too
Absolutely. Tesco Southampton want their car park lighting returned asap.
Okay they’re decent enough, but entirely unsuited to bridge use, and entirely unnecessary with the dazzling halogen lamps of the seahorse parapet standards.
A breath of fresh air.
Lovely to see everything back to normal again. Nice clean view of the Malton house and bumbling terrace too.
But given the €100,000s spent on this project, why was such a crude finish reinstated in parts?
Most of the resurfacing is of a high quality, but shoddy workmanship such as this pock-marking all about the place is a slap in the face to the overall high standard of the original project. Why couldn’t matching slabs simply have been cut and inserted? One would have thought every effort would be made to compensate for what will go down in the annals of history as Nightmare on Grattan Bridge.
Excellent, now all we need is to get rid of those feckin lamp posts !!
Shame about the finish in spots but to be honest, i didn’t expect any better, they’re quite adept at butchering paving …
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