Liberty Hall
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Yes it’s very disappointing news – the worst possible outcome really. There’s a lot of wriggle room on site to increase density without affecting the tower. Also the basement of the complex, itself a fascinating 1960s timewarp, could be redeveloped.
It’s notable that a national executive decided on this. Obviously either way a committee was going to make a decision in the interests of the union, but it is a uniquely Dublin landmark they’re meddling with.
iconic maybe. But that is not enough of reason to keep . It is really ugly. and it takes away from the custom house . tear it down.
@a boyle wrote:
iconic maybe. But that is not enough of reason to keep . It is really ugly. and it takes away from the custom house . tear it down.
when you say it takes away form the ch, you mean having a tall building here takes away from the ch, presumably that isn’t going to change, persumably they will only tear down liberty hall if they can replace it with something as tall.
i think this is a real shame, the building is pooly maintained, but not ugly, as well as being iconic and interesting, i think its a fine building and it would be even finer if the glass was restored.
It ‘s really annoying to see Belfast a city one third the size of dublin building taller buildings, residential and commercilal. Just today I saw apartment blocks 15 stories high for sale in Belfast. this is the height that all the ugly 8 floor buildings should be around Grand canal docka and accross the water around the point. It’s a waste of space. Up Up.:mad:
i don’t find liberty hall ugly at all, its quite well proportioned & would look pretty good with its original glazing or similar installed.
I’d be sad to see it go, its part of Dublin …. refurb with translucent glazing i say !
I’m not sure what to think about this. I’d be all in favour of a facelift but if it does get knocked, its wacky, oriental roof will be sorely missed. 🙁
Here’s a merged together pic of Dublin’s skyline. As you can see, the demoliton of Liberty hall would be a great loss to our familiar and drab skyline.
It also forms a nice gateway on the Liffey with O’Connell Bridge House.
The all too familiar postcard picture.
It’s quite dominating when shot from certain angles with a telephoto
Relecting off the Liffey at sundown
It’s quite a nasty piece of work up close however. No better than the other 60s crap that plagues the city,
The view from O’Connell Bridge on a winter’s evening
It is really ugly.
I don’t agree. Its high (no pun intended) profile has made it the building people love to say they hate without actually criticising the characteristics of the building. It’s quite slender and “light” – unlike what is undoubtadly being planned for it’s replacement – probably a squat bulky po-mo 7 story (with one of the stories “set back” or disguised as a mansard like roof) with four times the floor area. The wavy roof is iconic and echos Busaras. Its height actually complements the Custom House (see Morlan’s third picture) – its slender height contrasts with and emphasises the horizontal dominance of the custom house of that section of the Liffey. It helpfully detracts from the loop line bridge and its height helps reinforce the line of the river which is broken by the curved bridge. Besides the roof it has a simple design which is “modern” without being brutalist unlike most of the rest of the 60s office stock around that part of town.
The building is an icon of Dublin – particularly when it was younger. It is far superior to Georges Plaza which has supplanted it in that role. It deserves a proper makeover not demolition.
Everyone I know including myself hates the look of it. I don’t think people mind the height. We should be well use to that by now. However knocking it down isn’t the right thing to do.
I’ve always been a fan of buildings that are completely covered by mirror glass. These buildings tend to have a less visual impact on the skyline. I would love to see Liberty hall completely covered top to bottom my mirror glass (not stained), with the joining between each glass pane kept to a minimum, which is key. And because it is out on its own, all it will reflect is the colour of the Sky and this will help the building blend in to the skyline . So if the sky is grey, then the building is grey. If the sky is blue, then the building is blue.
That’s a good point. Frank McDonald’s infamous 1984 critical observations on the mirrored glass have generally entered the collective consciousness at this stage, and he did have a point regarding the elegant transparency of old.
But the mirrored glass also has a quality in itself in how it reflects the sky, and in particular when in late afternoon, especially winter, the bright sun spectaularly catches on the southern and western elevations, lighting up the city. It looks even better against the black sky we so often get for half the year. A magnificent view observed from the quays, and Millenium and Ha’penny bridges.It’s a toss-up really – the mirrored glass looks crap up close, but great from a distance.
Ad of course staff hate working in the place The Denouncer – who would want to work in an office space that hasn’t been tocuhed for forty years. The whole point of the tower retention option is that it would be completely refurbished.Thought ye’d like this. Love the music 🙂
From today’s Irish Idependent:
DUBLINERS will get a last chance to visit Liberty Hall’s viewing platform today and Sunday before the landmark building is demolished next year.
To enjoy the “spectacular panorama” of the city it provides, the public can call between 10.30am and 2.30pm to view Dublin from the city’s tallest building.
SIPTU plan to redevelop the 41-year-old building, the city’s tallest for four decades. The union is seeking commercial partners to redevelop the valuable, central Dublin site.
Siptu are extremely niave if they feel that they will maximise value and be on site next year given the sensitive nature of this site. Prediction Paul will host the first Archiseek party on the roof in early 2008 😀
The pictures put up by Morlan are the case for the retention of liberty hall in its present style. I accept that the building has broken and mismatched and generally uneven windows which detract from the general aesthetic of the building, but the central point cannot be avoided that a fundamental refurbishment of the existing structure is far more desirable to the wholesale destruction of the current construction.
To all of you who seek the Hall’s destruction I challenge you to come up with something better, something more in keeping with the area around.I challenge you because the likely successor to this building is some stumpy 8-9 storey creation which in the long-run will cause more damage to the surrounding area. This is because will not have the same tall/slim, short/fat contrast with the Custom House, it will not provide a focus for the eye as one looks from the sky down the Liffey, it will not be any Architectural case-books or grace the web-pages of landmark-focused sites and will not have the same quality of a landmark tower in our city.
this is the likely scenario as many developers seem more keen on building any sort of edifice these days simply to make more money instead of creating a genuinely unique and good-quality building. A whole plethora of things could be done with the Hall: street cafés, viewing galleries, a twin tower on the site to the west, a restauraunt at the top, changing colour lights at the top for seasonal celebrations, placement of sculptural pieces on the side foot and top of the building or a roof garden for the enjoyment of workers on a break or for visitors from other parts of the city and country.
On that point on the fact that workers are demoralised with the current building and the limitations, drabness and general dullness of the current edifice, surely a revamp would be better than a complete destruction of the existing building. Dealing with a few months of electricians, plumbers, plasteres and painters for a few months working on a floor-by-floor basis or a few years waiting for a completely new site to be found, bought, rezoned, built and fitted out, I’d pick the first option if I worked in Liberty Hall.
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