National Concert Hall, Dublin

upper pool European modernism…
There are not many Irish practices that operate in this complex geometry.
But I’m sure many Irish architecture students can.
They choose to focus on materials and avoid culture.

It looks quite striking. It reminds me of of the sort of buildings planned in the last flush of the Celtic Tiger years but with a bit more quality. I was thinking that that ribbon-like glass facade was for the back of the venue – no way would they get planning to demolish the street-side facade! The idea of having three separate performance venues is also a good idea which would make the NCH a lot more competitive especially now that it’s up against a refurbished Point, the Grand Canal Theatre and so on. They could cater for smaller events and gigs in the smaller theatres which would give them the finance to compete against the Grand Canal for the sort of performances they’re attracting. A refurbishment per se is a good idea for the NCH so as to give the place a lift since the place is a bit dated at the moment. It’s a shame to hear this project has stalled. It’d be nice if one of our tax exiles stepped in to bankroll this project in lieu of paying their share towards the land of their birth. Dermot Desmond and Denis O’Brien spring to mind as people with both the cash and business acumen necessary to drive a project like this forward.

I fell in love with the swoopy lines of the main concert hall in the 3XN submission when I first saw it here. This, the fact it was respectful of the existing classical facade and the variety in the decor and intimacy of the three concert halls won it over for me.

The Henning Larsen gimmick of lighting up the three knobby blocks of projecting on them was just that, a gimmick and unimpressive. If they had wanted to create an outside viewing space they could have done that to the rear of the building but they didn’t underlining the gimmicky nature of the thing. The three, ugly, knobby-looking block visible over the existing classical facade were totally unsympathetic, badly placed and out of scale. THose kobby bits looked like something that the people I consider to be scale-less architectural terrorists, OMA, would have done.

The Henning Larsen seamless video presentation with mood muzak looked very slick, but I preferred the more architecturally revealing presentation by 3XN. Having gone mad with the first two thirds of the video leading into the seamless presentation of the foyer, Henning Larsen seemed to jhave been left running out of time and/or money to complete it and had to make do with still shots of the proposed development itself – I was less than impressed. 3XN, on the other hand, took you through all of the spaces, allowing you to view them as architectural forms modulating light and space, before offering fully rendered views of selected vistas.

The 3XN presentation suggested to me that they were presenting fully, for both for professional designers and the public, and they concentrated on selling the scheme on its native strengths, not gimmicks. This, taken together with the respectful and limited palette of forms, the majestic conception of the main hall and the intimacy of the recital hall balancing perfectly against the main classical hall, won me over. I’m not saying someone couldn’t do this better, but of these two, 3XN got my vote, and for and above reasons.

mint? international public partnerships…
national — station

the 3xn proposal is very zahahaha $$$…
Exterior seems unresolved until you see the movie.

Larsen proposal looks like some Irish architect had a big hand in it.
=purple/jasmine carpets & not super $ much like that one next to custom house?

2009? hmmm
These buildings would be used at at 30% capacity for 1000’s sqm. and $$$$$$$$$ of floor space 12 hours a week…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/architecture/ram/rsfinchpolo.ram

it takes 2 to tango… woof