gaiety centre
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But that will be lower than what is presently on the site
@lexington wrote:
Just on a point of information – the Gaitey Complex proposed by Joe O’Reilly will not be proceeding as indicated by the Irish Times article. It is now revised at 3-levels, not 5, and will incorporated 4 penthouse apartments as oppose to the original 6. Design by A&D Wejchert. Sisk look set to be main contractors.
That is completely incorrect. Where do get your info?
We have full and final permission for 5 commercial levels (4 over ground) and 1 level of apartments.
Any queries to gdwyer@wejchert.ie
Graham Dwyer
A+D Wejchert.🙂
H & M and Zara have signed up to transform this previously dead street in retail terms
If anyone would like more info on what is in store for this site, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Graham Dwyer
A&D Wejchert Architects
this looks like a great addition to this area,sorely needed to keep up with henrey street!anyone know when itll be completed?
When, oh when, is its neighbour across the road – the Stephen’s Green shopping centre – going to introduce more entrances and exits? It’s bonkers that there’s only two ways in and out of the place, with no doorway at all from the west-side. Amazing how little that shop centre reacts to its passing trade. Most places reach out and grab you
Without question it is the lack of a rear exit at the west end that is most infuriating. It’s nothing short of bizarre that you pass by acres of Dunnes Stores frontage on Mercer Street, walking the entire way around the store before finally entering the centre at the side, especially if you want to avail of that particular outlet: completing a near 360 degree round trip. And this in the face of their Head Office directly across the road too.
Now that the whole George’s Street area is a bustling commercial location, it’s high time this market was served with a new rear entrance. If it means dividing the Dunnes unit in two, so be it. Times have changed since the doldrums of the 1980s.
@Sue wrote:
When, oh when, is its neighbour across the road – the Stephen’s Green shopping centre – going to introduce more entrances and exits? It’s bonkers that there’s only two ways in and out of the place, with no doorway at all from the west-side. Amazing how little that shop centre reacts to its passing trade. Most places reach out and grab you
I remember alterations being discussed about five years ago or so in various newspapers. Nothing seems to have come of it though. I think the issue is that it only grabs people at certain places and then traps them. In some ways I am kind of glad that it doesn’t spill out on to the street though.
@phil wrote:
I remember alterations being discussed about five years ago or so in various newspapers. Nothing seems to have come of it though. I think the issue is that it only grabs people at certain places and then traps them. In some ways I am kind of glad that it doesn’t spill out on to the street though.
Dunnes should open one through the back of their shop
A fair point JDivision.
Hard to believe that it is nearly 20 years old isn’t it?
12/10/2007
The hole being dug for the new Gaiety Centre development is simply enormous – one of the deepest excavations you’re likely to see in the city, especially adjoining existing (old!) buildings. It seems they’re going down at least a whopping three storeys – no doubt partly in compensation for the loss of (originally ridiculous) height proposed for this development. At least one of these basement levels is to be retail/commercial.
These pictures don’t remotely do justice to how far down they’ve gone – you really have to see it on site. I’d be a bit wary if I owned the Gaiety! (also note its chic new flytower above).
Is there parking planned for under here too?
Jesus… I remember a conversation I had with Wilfrid Cantwell shortly after BTs moved into the old Switzers location. And he was telling me that the water table in the Grafton Street area is quite near the surface, especially further down the street. How dry does the hole look? He had a story about the new basement in BTs flooding the Clarendon Street church basement because it was subterranean diverting water flow.
Great! Thanks for that adhoc. What a depth!
Perhaps Paul the water table issues are due to the River Styne which flows in this area, roughly down from Harcourt Street, through the Green and along Grafton Street down to Hawkins Street? (ish). Indeed the winding form of Grafton Street is thought to be derived from following the course of the Styne. It may cause some headaches for the Metro…Just as we’re in the area, the York Street redevelopment went down by one floor (this picture taken October 2006). The RCSI part of the site though (out of shot) apparently went down four storeys.
Here are a few images to help you get a feel for the building proposed for South King Street.
any queries, gdwyer@wejchert.ieRegards
Graham
I am taking photos of the development from the same spot every two weeks, hopefully we can make an animation of its construction when its complete.
https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=6223&d=1194360467
SKS Basement Excavation 17-10-07.jpg
https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=6224&d=1194360467
model.jpg
https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=6225&d=1194360467
section.jpg
https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=6226&d=1194360697
South King Street 1.jpg
https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=6227&d=1194360697
South King Street 2.jpg6/4/2007
Just a few shots of the emerging new Gaiety Centre.
View from near the Mercer Hospital showing the canted corner.
Looking west from the Green.
Two substantial storeys underground.
Looking across the ground floor – soon to be adorned with the trademark acres of polished white flooring, black ash shelving and sexy chromed trims of a Zara fitout, and the not so hot lazy industrial look of H&M.
Service core.
This will be stone-clad, as in the render posted above.
Finally, the distinctive steel sections that will support the undulating glazed facade.
Nobody’s going to want to go back over the tortuous gestation of this South King Street scheme, it’s a done deal and it’s probably best left alone.
A lot of people seem to be genuinely excited by it, and that fine, but it might still be worth making a couple of observations.
Designing a fully glazed facade to a multi-storey retail centre is a major gamble.
Upper floor glazing to retail space (which is actually quite rare) is invariably abused, sooner or later, for all kinds of reasons.
South facing glazing, as in this case, can be blindingly bright/hot internally, leading to unintended and possibly uncontrolled screening installations.
Retail managers often try to blank areas of glazing to better use the floor space.
Internal, billboard scale, advertising is often applied to make use of the eye-catching window space and/or shield the internal space.
The view out from the, floor to ceiling, glazing on the upper floors of this development, is going to be of the side elevation and roofscape of the Stephen’s Green Centre!
I’m just a little sceptical that all will be as imagined in the prmotional renders, in a couple of years time.
Remember when ‘schuh’ on O’Connell Street was the great white hope for contemporary in-fill, this is schuh last week!
Most of the observation in the back pages of this thread dealt with this issue of the scale of the development (first and second schemes, objections to etc.) and it’s relationship with the Gaiety, (apart obviously from the numerous comments that jumped across the street to take a swipe at the Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, GrahamH excepted) but the quality and appropriateness of the design seemed to pass without question.
Perhaps in the intervening years and with big retail developments, like the make-over of Roches Stores on Henry Street, showing that contemporary architecture and retail streetscapes are not mutual exclusion zones, some re-appraisal of this scheme might have been attempted.
Here’s another example of contemporary in-fill on a retail street, this time from Edinburgh. Prince’s Street wouldn’t be known for it’s architectural integrity, or any other kind of integrity, but I think this is a decent scheme, even if it’s showing the early signs of mezzanine level window postering.
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