Habitat Building, College Green
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Here’s the grand interior of the recently opened Habitat on College Green in Dublin – it’s magnificent:
(something of a snap-n-run sneaky shot :))
The lighting of the dome has been well executed, and everywhere is covered in a crisp white matt finish.
In this respect it is somewhat sad to see the banking hall as it is now – the Victorian colour scheme replaced with a smug postmodern white and acres of consumer goods filling the grand room.
You can’t help but feel a little sad at the way we ‘capture’ older buildings nowadays, freeze them in place by smothering everything in white paint so we can almost scoff at the fussiness and ornamentation of times gone by, and how much ‘better’ we are today with all our sharp finishes and up-to-the-minute luxury items on display about the place.It’s a shame to see once-dominant elaborate doorcases consigned to corners, standing next to shelving units and generally looking like restored token gestures to history.
I don’t know, perhaps I’m just being narky, but if you take Clery’s for example – as a purpose designed classically-inspired department store it works so much better than Habitat; the latter feels like the converted space it is.
I think it’s all the clutter on the ground, it really reduces the scale of the interior – similarly the domed space in most purpose-designed stores would be a major public reception area with many departments leading off, whereas in Habitat it is the store!
You certainly get the feeling that the banking hall relied on the presence and design of the bank counter and furnishings to generate the necessary architectural impact – this has been somewhat lost with all the clutter today.Still, it’s great to see the building in such a public use again. The windows in the new building to the rear would have made for the most fantastic sun-filled restaurant overlooking Suffolk St – you notice instantly how wasted the expanse is as nothing more than a display case for the odd chair or plant.
Perhaps the best part of this new store is the view that hits you went coming out again – completely unexpected and nothing short of breath-taking! 🙂
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i must check out habitat. i have never been in any of their stores in ireland but the interior of the one shown above looks impressive from what i can see of it. a bit of colour wouldn’t go amiss though. perhaps some gold/wine to break up that white. there are several shops that can’t boast such an interior. as for bank of ireland, i have always liked that building. there is so much work going on throughout ireland. it’s exciting compared to years ago when there was little or no work going on. 🙂
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Starbucks?
I too like the interior of Habitat. It is magnificent. To be honest it would still look magnificent in any workable colour(s). 😉 As for B.O.I…. it is a lovely historical building. I like the way it swings around the street. We could do worse, for example Hawkin’s House. I can’t wait to see that knocked.
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@Graham Hickey wrote:
Here’s the grand interior of the recently opened Habitat on College Green in Dublin – it’s magnificent:
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/Dublin1/HabitatCG1.jpg[/IMG[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/Dublin1/HabitatCG2.jpg[/IMG
Excellent, I must have a gander in there this week.
As for BOI, what the hell are they feeding those flower boxes?!
We don’t need flower boxes here. Remove them, that motorbike, and any other unnecessary ‘things’ from obstructing the fine view of the building.
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Fully agreed – every local authority in the country seems to have bought a batch load of these timber wedding cakes in 2002 or so and they’re just plonked anywhere!
That is one probably the worst use of them there outside the BoI, especially combined with the trees.Look at that fantastic chimneyscape of Foster Place in Morlan’s pic! Also, what’s that tall chimney to the rear of the BoI – a boiler chimney?
It’s interesting how the perfectly square plinths of the columns of the BoI really stand out when viewed from above, something you just don’t see from the ground. -
What a great picture of college green. I touched on the subject before in relation to O’Connell Street but there’s something very appealling about the relationship between the street and the building when the street emphasises the horizontal while the buildings stand over it, emphasising the vertical. Obviously the lack of clutter helps a great deal. In O’Connell Street the opportunity to recapture this relationship has been lost with the redevelopment with the number of vertical “things” on the street itself – in particular the number of tall lampposts.
By the way, is anyone else OUTRAGED at the lack of RESPECT those pedestrians are showing to their fellow road users (the tram and car drivers) by crossing the streets where they please? It’s disgraceful! 😀
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@jimg wrote:
By the way, is anyone else OUTRAGED at the lack of RESPECT those pedestrians are showing to their fellow road users (the tram and car drivers) by crossing the streets where they please? It’s disgraceful! 😀
I know, jimg, I know. Disgraceful, isn’t it? Not to mention that (bloody) cyclist near the tram going the ‘wrong’ way. I mean, who do these people think they are? 🙂
I tell ya, if I’d been out on the road that day I’d have been effin’ and blinding left, right and centre at all the ‘flat-footed gombeens’. How did Dublin and Dubliners survive without me there to police them? :rolleyes: -
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Yes it is filthy, as were all major classicals in the city until the 1980s – indeed the BoI as a private enterprise were the first in the capital to clean their building, in contrast with the myriad grotty State structures around the city.
It was cleaned in 1977 along with a major ‘conservation’ programme (parts of it were essentially rebuilt), and seemingly again in the 1990s when more work was carried out.It’s been mentioned before, but ‘apparently’ 😉 in the Dana video shot by RTÉ in 1970 in the city centre (crops up in Reeling in the Years) the building looks like it’s been painted black in places! – as dirty as Trinity’s West Front.
It’s starting to get grubby again, as is Govt Buildings, but sure you can’t keep cleaning – it is a dusty urban environment after all.In the c1930 image above there’s still one of those classic hut-like telephone booths in place there – only one left in the entire city now it seems on Dawson St 🙁
And to think you could just sail into the city in your car and dump it in front of Grattan! And you had the pleasure of eght intact seahorses watching over you 😡
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I don’t know why this thread was named ‘Habitat College Green’.
For me, the replacement of the Suffolk Street facade on the rear of the site, has been one of the most interesting aspects of this project. I have taken a while to think about this Suffolk Street facade, and I guess it was needed. The old steel stanchion four storey Mies van der Rohe imitation was never going to hack it, as far as retail space was concerned. The new facade on Suffolk Street appears to have been a very good investment for the whole project. I think, the glass gap between Ulster Bank and Habitat works too, as a way to kind of link those two facades up together. Interesting project I must say, as I begin to observe it in use at weekends, evenings etc, etc.
Of course, keeping the Suffolk Street to College Green pedestrian route is worthy of praise too.
Brian O’ Hanlon.
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Bring it on!
Most Aldis, Lidls, etc. are in very unsustainable locations outside town centres that require a car, so making a play for a city centre site means car-free weirdos like me can finally access their goodies. I know there are branches in town already, but most are well off my beaten track.
Also, the recessionistas* will be delighted that they can conspicuously consume low cost items in the comfort of the southside! Keeping it cheap- it’s all the rage now, darling! Hadn’t you heard?
* Is this the most offensive aspect of the current downturn? That minding your pennies is now in some way fashionable? Those of us who have been minding our pennies all through the C***** T**** because we had no other option must be delighted to know that we’re now the height of fashion.
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Oh come on ctesiphon! Its a ridiculous choice for such a low order use. And what does it say for all the other grand plans on OC Street if such a promient site cant attract a major retailer.
There’s also not a whole lot of residential here…where’s the customers. Surely somewhere on Camden Street would be better, or Talbot Street.
Pure daft if you ask me but I dont really give the store much credence.
One things is for sure though Westmoreland Street – lower Grafton Street is heading rapidly down hill. Westmoreland Street in particular is now looking like pre-IAP O’Connell Street – fast food, newsagents, amusement arcade and vacant shops (three large ones at that). The public domain is a mess and it is dominated by traffic. Its a crying shame.
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@StephenC wrote:
Oh come on ctesiphon! Its a ridiculous choice for such a low order use. And what does it say for all the other grand plans on OC Street if such a promient site cant attract a major retailer.
Oh I dunno. All I’d be concerned with if LIDL set up here would be the treatment of the building fabric, interior and exterior. I reckon their CEO would slightly disagree on what comprises a “major retailer”
There’s also not a whole lot of residential here…where’s the customers. Surely somewhere on Camden Street would be better, or Talbot Street.
how about the 15,000 penny pinchers across the road? It would also facilitate a lot of office workers in the area like any city centre Tesco Express or supermarket does
Pure daft if you ask me but I dont really give the store much credence.
do you mean LIDL in general or this site?
One things is for sure though Westmoreland Street – lower Grafton Street is heading rapidly down hill. Westmoreland Street in particular is now looking like pre-IAP O’Connell Street – fast food, newsagents, amusement arcade and vacant shops (three large ones at that). The public domain is a mess and it is dominated by traffic. Its a crying shame.
very very true. However I wouldn’t despair. Nothing major can realistically happen pre Luas and Metro. It does have the air of uncertainty, almost condemned to a decade of disruption and total flux, about it. Give it time. The rearrangment of traffic at this location will have a massive impact.
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I was going to say “major comparison retailer” but I thought that would sound too “plannerish”. Do you really think that the best use for this building is a discount foodstore (or any supermarket for that matter)? This should be the setpiece public space for the city. Set piece public space anchored by discount foodstore with internally illuminated signage! Read the planning application and weep.
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Link to the story in today’s Irish Times
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Not sure I’d agree with the term ‘discount foodstore’. College Green is definitely a set-piece in the city, but the uses of the buildings is only a small part of that equation. If Lidl can afford the rent, then great. It’s high time a fuller range of services existed in the city centre, and a fuller range of supermarket options- there’s M&S, Dunnes, etc., so why not the rest?
And I don’t live in the cc but I’d use it, say, on the way home, as alonso noted.
If they get the treatment and finishes right – agreed, signage is key – then I have no issues.
Interesting article from last Saturday’s Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jul/11/supermarkets.retail -
@StephenC wrote:
Oh come on ctesiphon! Its a ridiculous choice for such a low order use. And what does it say for all the other grand plans on OC Street if such a promient site cant attract a major retailer.
.major retailers rely strongly on footfall which the habitat site doesn’t really have. What it does have is access to large numbers of soap dodgers who have a lot more use for affordable groceries than they do for 4 pieces of wood tied together with string for €999.99
re the split – is there any reason why the split in habitat was half and half ie could lidl not just have a vertical circualtion zone and then drop immediately to dame street level? – be crap for suffolk street’s frontage but hey ho dat’s progress
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Apparently Abercrombie and Fitch considered the site, but refused as they thought the Area was too downmarket.
They’ve obviously got high aspirations. Their London Store is just off Savile Row.
I’d be happy to see them there, to be honest. They did a really good job on the London store, which is an 18th century listed building. There’s no signs outside or anything.
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The split stories present no problems for trollies. Have been in a couple of supermarkets overseas where you just roll the trolley on to a special escalator, which carries it up and down … you wouldn’t want to load it to high, mind. Is slightly worrying how shabby Westmoreland Street has become but don’t necessarily see this as an extension of that. I doubt they’ll want to make the place tatty a la Parnell Street and reckon what we might be in line for is a fancified version of the store like the Dunnes on Georges Street.
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@thewillow wrote:
Could the City Council object to the change of use?
Lol given the junk that DCC have been letting through, do you think they’d care?… And even if they did, why should they?
This is one where I’d refer you to Paul Clerkin’s post – “No problem with Lidl – unlike Spar / Centra / Londis, they seem to respect heritage buildings.”
Lidl is in fact one of the very very few (with the exception of NCAD) on Thomas St that are actually somewhat responsible. As ctesiphon said, to which I’ll add a “+ 1” (:p), “If they get the treatment and finishes right – agreed, signage is key – then I have no issues.”
We must face facts. There must be convenient low-cost good-quality fresh fare available in the city centre if we are to cater to the new immigrant populations, indigenous post celtic tiger professionals, and any young families that we might aspire to have living city centre side.
Tut, tut, what am I saying – “convenient low-cost good-quality fresh fare available in the city centre”; that would require a revolution!…Or do we stick with the same over-priced shite from frequently non-compliant providers, where you have as much chance of a good selection of fresh veg as winning the lotto…
Up with Lidl College Green, is what I say – Viva la Recessionistas! 😀
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