libeskind / Manuel Aires Mateus on the docks
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@cgcsb wrote:
is the new theatre starting to take shape? does anyone have construction pics? pictures from google earth and microsoft earth appear to be months if not years old.
Heres a few aerial pictures, theatre is starting to take its shape internally:cool: Sorry no ground pics!
An Post have a very big surface car park there on Macken Street. There must have been serious temptation to dispose of some of that land.
BTW did anyone see Martha Schwartz on Kevin McCloud’s Big Town Plan about two weeks ago?….see seemed like a bit of a witch…….ok this comment has no discussion quality at all….but since I’ve typed it :rolleyes:
Another pic from this evening.
and of the hotel.
They are bolting on tapered white blocks to the top storey, as per the original renders.
We should have had more faith!It still dosen’t work…
“We should have had more faith!”
Agreed, having read some of the earlier comments on this thread, I think the moral of the story is we should have had more faith in the ablity of Irish architects, rather that looking to the “names” under some illusuion that they could do better, and the horribly shortsighted view that having a “Roche” or a “Calatrava” branded structure is somehow impressive… for the tourists.
(The ironic thing is I actually like Mateus a lot, and I beleive this project probably suffered from bad managment by the Dublin firm given charge of its construction -who’s name eludes me, although I’m open to correction on this point)
Imagine Grafton’s Bocconi sitting on this site….
(Or even imagine the real Mateus building on this site, because what’s built is not the same building that’s on the Mateus website.)Even if this had been carved out of a single block of lard, or whatever, I just don’t get it.. . . but then, I don’t really get the ‘Gerkin’ either, so maybe there’s always going to be great contemporary architectural icons that I just don’t get.
Having said that, if a person had any interest in extravagantly expensive design statements by some of the world’s architectural elite (and let’s face it, who hasn’t) this little quarter square mile of Dublin is the place to take a little wander around at the moment!
The construction of the Libeskind theatre is amazing and it’s taking shape so quickly in comparison to everything else around town that it must be being built by elves,
No matter how fiendishly complicated the steel and concrete details, every day you go down there, there’s a new bit bolted on.
I hope somebody’s put a webcam on this.The Liebskind theatre really does look insane at the minute – the way so much heavy, heavy structure appears to be hanging off those two massive concrete cantilevers at either end… Quite dramatic. I hope the finished product dosent cover up too much of the structural heroics.
The addition of the white blocks at the top makes a massive improvement to the hotel although the facade is generally let down by some of the more awkward detailing, particularly at the base. I have to say I love the way the ground floor interior is shaping up – the sheer intricacy of those formations on the ceiling is extremely impressive from a craft point of view, plasterboard or not. I believe there’s a lot of lighting integrated into the cracks and crevases so I’d say it’ll be pretty amazing when finished. Just as long as they leave it all white – I heard a rumour that the interior designers were wanting to paint the ceiling all sorts of different colours to make it feel more “opulent”. Ugh…
Sisk website have added a live webcam for the site!!!:cool: http://www.sisk.ie/sisk/sisk/www/default.asp?magpage=25&id=593§or_id=1&wid=2
Recent pics from http://www.grandcanalsquare.ie The theatre looks confusing…….!!!!:cool::cool:
The theatre looks confusing…….!!!!
And how! But it’s somehow appropriate in this zany square, which is a sensory overload. Having said all that, when I was there on 30 Nov (a sunny, freezing day) it all looked magnificent and gave the lie to the idea of the ‘dull’ Docklands. The view from Crazy Square (or Mxyzptlk Plaza) is dominated by the water (as it should be) and the little Schwarz jetty makes you feel really in contact with the basin (of course, I wanted to straighten all the lightposts and although I’m not a fan of DL, if you half-shut your eyes…). The views are big, the architecture is interesting (with the reflecting office block across from the hotel the clear winner on a sunny day) and it’s starting to come to life. It’s connected to Pearse St and from there to Ringsend and the city: coffee on the corner, pricey organic stuff at the St Andrew’s RC, a view (but NO ENTRY!) of Pearse Sq – a real tranquil oasis – and the feel of an area in progress.
The Downturn will give it all a chance to settle down; the next phase? Demolition and redevelopment of that ugly shed at the NE corner of P Sq, relocation of the An Post yard (how they must be kicking themselves they didn’t dump it in the boom!), a ‘mews terrace’ along Macken St behind PSq (and the new bridge), more social and affordable hsg with lower property values, etc. And Goodbye to Bono.
Me, I think the South Docklands is great and people are failing to see the wood for the trees. The foundations have been laid, there’s plenty of time to humanise it and get the rest of it ‘right’.
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