Coal Quay

@Radioactiveman wrote:

An interesting proposal here to develop a (very) long disused site on Cornmarket Street, across from the new Cornmarket Centre and adjacent to the market buildings now housing ‘The Loft’ furniture store and the ‘new’ Bodega.
The site fronts on to the Coal Quay and also fronts a large portion of Portney’s Lane – leading onto North Main Street. Lots of protected buildings, underlying archaeology, etc.

The development itself is for a blatantly ‘modern’ three storey building consisting of retail at ground and first floor with office on top. In such a setting, I’m not convinced this is the right approach. It seems to over-impose itself on the loft when viewed from the south. The site certainly could benefit from development, as could its a mirror-image site across Portney’s Lane (visible in the photomontage). The architect is Paud O’Mahony.

Any thoughts?

What is it exactly as if it commercial / retail where will the signage go ?

Its trying a bit too hard to be different but a good stab at it anyway.
Hopefully the site on the other side of th e Lane will be re-developed also.

marks for effort but i dont think it even remotely fits in with its surroundings, would be better in a business park or somewhere i think although to be fair, that photo probably doesnt do it justice, might be lighter stone and blend in with the stone next door

The stone next door is offset by the red brick across the road though at TK maxx, i think the top of that building is awful

Rcently saw inside the bodega as well, its fabulous

the coal quay is really beginning to take shape with the roundy bar at the top, the corn store, tk maxx, bodega, the loft (they recently cleaned the stone, why the weeds were not removed I do not know, must be protected)………but as per usual our government has decided we don’t get funding to do up the actual street itself!

On that development don’t think it really fits in but might look ok if the street was refurbished!

An interesting proposal here to develop a (very) long disused site on Cornmarket Street, across from the new Cornmarket Centre and adjacent to the market buildings now housing ‘The Loft’ furniture store and the ‘new’ Bodega.
The site fronts on to the Coal Quay and also fronts a large portion of Portney’s Lane – leading onto North Main Street. Lots of protected buildings, underlying archaeology, etc.

The development itself is for a blatantly ‘modern’ three storey building consisting of retail at ground and first floor with office on top. In such a setting, I’m not convinced this is the right approach. It seems to over-impose itself on the loft when viewed from the south. The site certainly could benefit from development, as could its a mirror-image site across Portney’s Lane (visible in the photomontage). The architect is Paud O’Mahony.

Any thoughts?

marks for effort but i dont think it even remotely fits in with its surroundings, would be better in a business park or somewhere i think

It gets no ‘marks’ from me I’m sorry to say. putting aside for the moment the plain fact that it’s clashing with the existing and beautiful architecture up and down the street, this type of thing I’ve seen over and over and it’s just so unimaginative. it’s easy to see the loft building is far prettier, but there seems to be an attitude that this is ‘modern’ so it’s okay to be cheap, faceless and bland. well it’s not. modern architecture can and should be at least as attractive as it’s older neighbours. anyone can draw a box and some silly windows all over it, give it imposing height and demeanour and call it ‘development’ but again it’s not, and it’s not art, any more than the canvases you can buy in Ikea are.
Cork, and Ireland generally for that matter, has such a rich and unique character, and the built environment is a contributing element to that. the rhythm and roof-line of the city streets are valuable. by all means, I condone and even encourage original, thought-out and sympathetic interventions in the existing fabric, but this attempt at a contribution is woeful; at odds with everything around it; at once mute and aggressive.
from where i’m sitting it seems the building is tall because the Guy’s development is, and the developer demands unreasonable floor area, not because the design warrants it. the windows belie an overly expensive structural solution assembled in a tragic attempt to be current and give no benefit over windows positioned in a linear fashion, money that would be better spent on finer materials to salute the historic architecture of the immediate area.
the fact that it completely ignores it’s beautiful surroundings tells a tale of an architect not setting out to better the built fabric of the town but concerned only with floorspace and profit. cork is seeing way too much of this kind of foggy, apologetic (or worse, overbearing) and featureless ‘architecture’ and its just not good enough.

@Radioactiveman wrote:

An interesting proposal here to develop a (very) long disused site on Cornmarket Street

Interesting. And quite aesthetic at the first glance. But – incrisingly annoying the longer I look at it, the more I realise that there was no effort whatsoever put into making this building work with its surroundings. Which is sheer arrogance – and this design is not good enough to be a standalone gem-type building. So I agree with Yossarian on that completely.

@Pug wrote:

Recently saw inside the bodega as well, its fabulous

Recently saw inside the bodega as well, it’s a disaster. What are the fake arcades about in such a beautiful open space interior? Cheap chic is, well, just cheap.

@venividi wrote:

Recently saw inside the bodega as well, it’s a disaster. What are the fake arcades about in such a beautiful open space interior? Cheap chic is, well, just cheap.

You can have great fun for about two minutes spotting the fake columns from the real ones. Then the fun wears off. Overall, I think he did a pretty good job and it’s nice to see it back in business, but the extra, useless columns are a disaster.
His stated purpose was to somehow honour the original function of the building as a market. That requires large open space, something which these new additions have removed.

@venividi wrote:

Interesting. And quite aesthetic at the first glance. But – incrisingly annoying the longer I look at it, the more I realise that there was no effort whatsoever put into making this building work with its surroundings. Which is sheer arrogance – and this design is not good enough to be a standalone gem-type building. So I agree with Yossarian on that completely.

Recently saw inside the bodega as well, it’s a disaster. What are the fake arcades about in such a beautiful open space interior? Cheap chic is, well, just cheap.

Whop was responsible for destroying that fantastic space.

Looks like somebody went out and bought thos columns in Woodies as an afterthought.

ah well, its all subjective, i think it beats the last version of the Bodega

I just saw Bodega today, I really like the outdoor space to the side, and as for the inside, I thought it was suave! a very British-India feel to it. and yes, the fake columns are questionable but the way they’ve opened up the mezzanine adds depth. the overall effect is excellent in my opinion, just as long as they don’t go sticking corinthians on the outside!

@Radioactiveman wrote:

An Taisce have put in a submission in support of this and called it ” a welcome addition to the streetscape”

really? well i do think an addition to the streetscape would be welcome, but not necessarily this…

Looks like the Coal Quay won’t be getting the facelift it badly needs what with the council having its funds cut and now Murrayford in trouble.

I really think this should be the gateway street leading up to the narrow streets of Shandon. At this stage I think Shandon St itself needs to be bypassed as it has nothing for tourists and instead these narrow streets should be developed, there are 2 pubs closed down and derelict right at the back of the Firkin Crane, no need to build anything new just do up places like this.

Remember that bridge they put in to open Shandon up to the city?

The alley on the other side that leads up to Shandon is now locked up in the evenings.

Geniuses.

@jungle wrote:

Remember that bridge they put in to open Shandon up to the city?

The alley on the other side that leads up to Shandon is now locked up in the evenings.

Geniuses.

I have gone on about that in another thread……go for dinner in the only restaurant up there and you can’t even walk back down the narrow streets afterwards!