New Appartment Blocks

I agree. Small, sub-standard accomodation, which people are queuing up to buy. We grumble about property prices, but there is little public discussion about the quality of housing. Builders are allowed squeeze as many badly constructed matchboxes as possible into a few acres, without any thought given to quality of life. Have we not learned from past mistakes? Soulless, isolated, and overcrowded housing estates breed social problems. Unfortunately, demand for more housing will mean poorer quality.

I know of a scheme where the view from the a window is the blank gable wall of another block. Also is’nt is sad to see these complexes full of high quality cars indicating the wealth of the occupiers; but too bad the appartment quality is seriously lacking and not worth the price. After all it is unfair to the people who have to pay astronomical prices; if people are willing to pay they deserve the quality.

The nouveaux riche deserve what they get.It just shows how stupid they are in the first place to buy the likes. Superficial ignorant air-heads,knowing nothing but whatever is the latest and trendiest fads. If these people did’nt buy the shoddy kips in the first place builders would have to improve the standards.

Duck Soup……The birds come to roost!

Way, Way over priced.
Far, Far to Flimsy.

Myself and many of my peers in their
twenties are setting our sights abroad
or have already gone, not willing to
put up with the way this coutry has gone.

There might have been something done
only for the fact that there are the folks
in the 30’s and above who don’t care about
the way the situation has gone because of
their own assets are worth more.

It’ll be the ruin of the country,
There is nothing that special really
anymore that makes it worth having
sub-standard living just to be in Ireland.

It is the superficial foney needs of such people for the superficial foney appartments that have hiked the prices in the first place……and the builders just keep getting richer.

It’s funny to think that Bono and a few other celebs were interested in paying £1 million pounds for a penthouse appartment at Charlotte Quay……a penthouse appartment with panoramic views……….of what! Okay London maybe, Paris, Rome, New York, Sydney or where ever…but the Dublin docks…no way! There is SFA of interest to see down there.

Nouveaux Riche with money to squander.Money to squander on cheap little appartments, cheap little restaurants, cheap food and wines…. thinking they are living a life of style, oppulence and finesse and yet not knowing basically good from bad quality.

Ah tut, tut. There is a difference is there not with having money with style and having money without style. People can be complacent accepting anything of substandard quality. There is always a market for anything, no matter what, so long as the public is willing to buy it…. and that goes for everything, the food you eat,the clothes you wear, the music you listen to,the TV you watch…The advertizements you succumb to. In fact, I could describe myself as ‘Nouveaux Riche’ too but maybe I have a keener eye for quality and taste….. and good for me you say.

At least in the future when all these shoddy schemes become uninhabitable ther will be plenty of work for architects when rebuilding them. At the moment architects they do not have any involvement in designing these schemes, so you can put all the blame onto the developers and the planners.

“TurnOnMyHeel” is right about the
potential the to ruin the country.

I don’t think though that the blame
lies with the New rich.

A stroll through most European cities
bring you past and into many apartment
schemes that have well kept open spaces
that are shared with the apartment owners
and the general public alike. All apartments
built to a good level.

Here though we have Dublin slipping back
into norman times with it’s spaces
enclosed behind large gates with your
standad 24hr Sentry on guard.

It’s the regulations that don’t give
people long term leases on apartments,
tenants tending then to be transient.
This in turn makes the apartments more
easily a short term investment for the
buyers. And therefore the owner non-
ocupier won’t care much for the quality
of the building when it’s only a short-
term investmnet to make a few quid.

Well as a consolation there will always be the potential of rebuilding for the better in the future. Most appartments schemes today won’t last even 50 years due to the shoddy workmanship. They’re merely space fillers for the derelict sites. Think of the schemes today as a forerunner for better things to come. All these neo-georgian fallacies that we have must be replaced. Hopefully in time we will have our act together too with a more urban minded society. Remember too it it not that long ago that we the natives were inhabiting the bogs.

On the point that we are just out of the bogs…….To view the big picture of our society and the architecture we have produced – the shoddy appartment complexes, the skullduggery associated with the building business, the twisted planning laws and rampant political corruption over the years…….but what can one expect when you think of a substantial aspect of the public were out en masse to object to divorce, condoms,(which we casually accept now as the country has’nt fallen asunder)the heated almost racist debates over refugees and foreign nationals;and to remember were at one time only recently moved by moving statues and consistantly voted for a particular political party that had caused the general malaise of the country – and what a pseudo religious semi communist state that was…………………..What a backward lot!…sigh!

It is obviously a tendency to offer the minimum standards to the apartment buyers in Dublin today.

Of course there are certain exceptions like the super pent-houses in Carrickmines or Howth rd. But in general, 95% of the apartments that have been built in dublin in the last 5 years provide the minimum standards, in terms of space, size, design, detailing, etc. And it is only because there is no need to provide anything a little bit better as anything will sell; as it’s been said, a lot of people would preffer to buy anything to pay rent, even if it is a very low standard apartment.

The bottom line of this is that developers will build them as small and cheap as they can get away with and nobody is going to complain, on the contrary a lot of people may see them as the way to improve their life-styles.

If consumers keep buying bad quality apartments, developers will build them for ever and ever, unless the architects begin to take responsability for their work and produce the best possible design, unfortunately ethics and good money don’t seem to get along very well so it seems that architects have been blinded in this respect and believe that morals aren’t an issue here. So I believe they should be directed by and controlled by institutions such as the RIAI and planning authorities in a very strict legal way.

It is obviously a tendency to offer the minimum standards to the apartment buyers in Dublin today.

Of course there are certain exceptions like the super pent-houses in Carrickmines or Howth rd. But in general, 95% of the apartments that have been built in dublin in the last 5 years provide the minimum standards, in terms of space, size, design, detailing, etc. And it is only because there is no need to provide anything a little bit better as anything will sell; as it’s been said, a lot of people would preffer to buy anything to pay rent, even if it is a very low standard apartment.

The bottom line of this is that developers will build them as small and cheap as they can get away with and nobody is going to complain, on the contrary a lot of people may see them as the way to improve their life-styles.

If consumers keep buying bad quality apartments, developers will build them for ever and ever, unless the architects begin to take responsability for their work and produce the best possible design, unfortunately ethics and good money don’t seem to get along very well so it seems that architects have been blinded in this respect and believe that morals aren’t an issue here. So I believe they should be directed by and controlled by institutions such as the RIAI and planning authorities in a very strict legal way.

It is obviously a tendency to offer the minimum standards to the apartment buyers in Dublin today.

Of course there are certain exceptions like the super pent-houses in Carrickmines or Howth rd. But in general, 95% of the apartments that have been built in dublin in the last 5 years provide the minimum standards, in terms of space, size, design, detailing, etc. And it is only because there is no need to provide anything a little bit better as anything will sell; as it’s been said, a lot of people would preffer to buy anything to pay rent, even if it is a very low standard apartment.

The bottom line of this is that developers will build them as small and cheap as they can get away with and nobody is going to complain, on the contrary a lot of people may see them as the way to improve their life-styles.

If consumers keep buying bad quality apartments, developers will build them for ever and ever, unless the architects begin to take responsability for their work and produce the best possible design, unfortunately ethics and good money don’t seem to get along very well so it seems that architects have been blinded in this respect and believe that morals aren’t an issue here. So I believe they should be directed by and controlled by institutions such as the RIAI and planning authorities in a very strict legal way.

MK, I would like to ask you something,

Do you think that the majority of the apartment blocks reflect the best possible solution to the housing problem???

Do you think that nobody can create anything better and still make money?

Don’t you think that such a mediocre attitude is unhealthy?

To raise the point about building regulations, didn’nt the government introduce a minimum standard size for an appartment (including ceiling heigh) a couple of years because of the miniscule dimensions of the appartments being built then.It is up to the government to introduce such laws insuring and enforcing quality in the building industry instead of pandering to their croanies in such circles.

X

The idea of debating the slums of tomorrow in the same context as words such as ‘architects’ or ‘architecture’ is somewhat laughable. The average developer does not care about anyones quality of life but their own. Architects are hired today purely for the reason of obtaining planning permissions to construct second rate tenements for the investor market. The cynical regard for some of those who wish to make a better place for people to live in is appalling. Wishing for a legislation for a quality of life or architecture when both the legislators and the developers in Ireland are in the same bed is purely is a bit like wishing for world peace.
By the way you all have a choice: support An Taisce or create your own lobby to appeal this s**t that is being thrown at you. Just because you don’t have to live in it by choice or circumstance doesn’t give you the right to mouth off about the ridiculous quality of new building stock in Ireland without making yourself heard. We can’t depend on the assholes in Dail Eireann to do anything but legislate for higher salaries for themselves. Enough.

Hi bunch,I don’t wish to give a lecture on the history and social fabric of 20th century Ireland,(Re – pseudo religious semi communist state) but what I was implying was that our country once projected an image of itself as being deeply religious and ‘moral’ but yet the truth was the opposite, as you may know already. Hidden were the misfortunes and malices that befell the people; disadvantages and deprivation were to be accepted.The decades that followed WW2 were a boom time for western economies but yet here in Ireland there remained a somewhat stiffling atmosphere similar one could say to what was going on behind the Iron Curtain. Our country endured severe censorship laws under the ‘regimes’ of DeVelera, the Catholic church & Co. Hardly an environment for fostering and nurturing an educated artistic and ‘well rounded’ people. Therefore the subsequent results is the society we have today of which I have mentioned already. Hence to quote yourself…’In Ireland we are so often guilty of ecouraging mediocrity, accepting low standards, and disregarding creativity’.

One wonders how elsewhere around the world in the past great architectural wonders were ever completed amid the atmosphere of political corruption and fiddling, ie the doges of Venice, the de Medici’s, the Borgias, etc….etc….

Apartment blocks constitute a VERY important part of the city as they usually are prominent buildings.

The impact that this buildings have on the streets determines what the city looks like. Therefore it is everybody’s buisiness what the general appearance of an apartment block is going to be. That’s why a specialized body in charge of maintaining a good desing standard is needed. Let’s face it, a lot of these apartment blocks are built without a commitment to enrich the city’s appearance.

Is the developer the responsable for the design of an apt block? I think that as long they are guaranteed a profit, they should not be involved in the design process; hasn’t it been said that money is the sole motivation of a developer.

Ok! Can anybody recall good apartment blocks?

Something like the corporation flat, the curved building, in the corner of New bride st and Kevin st, or the Iveagh Buildings or the Wooden building. Also HJL’s one on the quays, right beside the Sunlight chambers. O’Muire Smyth designed another building on Beresford St., near King ST north. The apartments at Essex St. opposite the civic offices.

There are lots more! Can you add on a few?

……….but the bad out number the good ……and the good are overpriced…you have to pay very dearly for quality.

Charlotte Quay and eh!………..

I know certain architects that insist in designing with minimum dimensions, ALWAYS!

I agree that for tax designated areas (urban) i.e. ‘in town’ apartments don’t need to be huge as the location is luxury enough – this doesn’t mean that they ‘have to be’ minimum either – but there is absolutely no reason why this minimum sizes should be used in suburban areas, where an apartment should be an affordable alternative to a house and it shoud compensate for things like not having a garden, not being able to extend,having to go up stairs to get to your front door, etc. Apartments shouldn’t be seen as the only option for the poor people that can’t afford a house! -and forger about the investors for a second, thanks to bacon they should be out of the equation-. An apartment should have something to offer and make potential buyers think about the option, a big apartment or a small house; but for this to happen they should really be similar in what they are offering and at the moment apartments in the suburbs are being designed almost as a last resource not as something people would like to consider a home.

In terms of the looks of the buildings, like any other piece of architecture it should reflect the situation in which it’s set (social, economical, cultural) and not trying to copy georgian or provencal or arts and crafts, or any of those … well gone styles, We are living the early years of the 21st century and the architecture of our town should reflect the way we do it in the best way, and I don’t think that the situation now nor the way we live is the same as it was in the 18th or 19th c.

Ha Ha!

Funny, the average human being is getting bigger with each generation.

I have nothing against minimum sizes, I think you need to handle these in the best way possible so you can use the extra space somewhere else. But I think it should be the architects decision to allocate them and not follow developers instructions blindly and make them all small.

I think the main conscern for any designer should be to provide the best possible environment for the occupiers to live in comfort, after that, the developers requests.