Roches Stores, Henry Street, Dublin
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If you stand outside the Jervis Centre or M&S and face Roches, it looks like it has just arrived from outer space, a mammoth bulky cumbersome lump, dazzling white, crashing down onto Henry St – crushing all of the original streetscape on it’s site.
Of course they’re only trying to make it look better – badly – but there is no way on the face of this planet, not even the planet it came from, would such a structure get planning permission today.
Its intrusion onto the streetscape is barely concievible in it’s arrogance, we so often pass it unheeding as it has so long been mere wallpaper, but this ‘facelift’, and seen from the west is makes it absolutely monstrous in scale.
C’mon Graham…if Benson & Forsythe had designed it half the architects in the country would probably be raving about its understated minimalism and brave juxstaposition of platonic planar forms…its obviously a bottom line budget driven attempt on improving the previous facade….(sans glazing which no doubt was a client directive) Out of interest….what would you have proposed
I don’t mean the design, I’m talking about the scale of the building – as I say they’re only trying to make the place look better which has to be welcomed, ie they’re making the best out of a bad situation.
Nothing can take away from the massive scale of the structure, and the new white finish only serves to highlight it’s size.What would I propose?
Aside from razing it to the ground – if I even suggest the word window, there’ll be a backlash of ‘windows are soooooo over-rated’ etc, so I’ll stay quiet on the issue.Its true!……windows ARE overrated…its a real pane…I think the profession should look into this…then upon reflection…maybe not…I’m just fenestrated with the whole idea. There’s just no clear rationale. The whole idea of windows should be planar and simple really…ope you agree?
took a stroll down henry street last weekend, first time since june.
in my humble but anguish ridden opinion, the revised facade of roches stores is an absolute abomination. i cant begin to comprehend how awful its going to look in 2 years, not to mind 20. terrible standard of finish, staining, ugly patina forming, shoddy detailing and finishing. not pretty.
any opinions?
and garethace, please dont try and relate this to limerick in any way
I saw it too yesterday – good God it’s massive – moreso thanthe last time I saw it without that black yoke looming over the top like Independence Day.
It will indeed be hugely dated in a few years and the condition of the concrete will be far from pretty.
I’ve no idea why the glazing on the corners is not centred to highlight these entrances, it looks messy now.
I did’nt see staining and I don’t know what a patina is so can’t comment.
The building is disasterously large in scale, the earlier likening to the Stena HSS is perfectly fitting.
Originally posted by d_d_dallas
On the Zara front – the initial plan was to locate in the Grafton St area… but property prices in Dublin had caused them to reach for the smelling salts. So (cheaper) Henry St was chosen – but I think Roches has since fallen out with them (premature announcements were made before deals were closed etc etc).I point my learned friend towards the media & advertising column of last weekend’s Sunday Times
Zara to star in Roches opening
Roches Stores, the department store chain, plans to open the doors on its newly expanded flagship store in Dublin’s Henry Street on November 4. Costing about €50m, the redevelopment will expand its retailing capacity from 70,000 ft sq over three floors to 130,000 ft sq on five floors. As part of the redevelopment, Zara, the Spanish fashion retailer, will open a 20,000-ft-sq shop with frontage on to Henry Street. This will be Zara’s first outlet in the republic. Roches recently relocated its head office to Sandyford to make way for the extra shopping space and the store will include a number of new restaurants, cafes and ATM cash machines. Roches, which is family-owned, operates 11 stores around the country.
graham
i was there on a fairly miserable day and what i think i saw was mist settling and condensing, then running through cracks and washing out dust and construction crap, it looked pretty bad. i’m sure it just came off with rain but it just highlighted the panel size and lack of relation to the street.
The basic problem I have with the design is that it is horizontal in emphasis, made up of massive horizontal panels.
Henry St, like every other street, is made up of a terrace – which in turn is comprised of vertical buildings or units.
Roches blatently breaks the rules as it were, and hence just bullies its way onto the streetscape screaming ‘look at me’.
If the panels were vertical, perhaps alternated with strips of vertical glass (windows) it would address the street so much better.
€50 million is a lot – to put it in context – the massive Arnotts extention, refitting and restoration cost approx €58 million.
Hey – I made that comment ages ago! Zara were indeed sniffing at the Suffolk St BOI branch as a possible alternative. But great to hear they’re coming sooner rather than later – I did see their recruitment ads for staff a while back and was wondering when a date would be announced for the opening. Hurrah! Henry St gets slightly more bearable!!
Zara is nothing special, we’re talking Marks and Spencers quality. Mexx is much better quality and they have stores here.
Does anyone know when/ if the Ikea store is
ever going to materialize in Ireland ??
This country needs and deserves one.not too good at the linking and such, but look at the two rendered images that accompanied the first post on this thread. personally i dont think they’re accurately prtraying whats been built. wide perspectives and soft focus seem to accentuate the building, where the reality is so disappointing. i just wonder how much of a sell were such renders, and how much they were selectivel shown to planners to convince them of granting permission
Zara is nothing special, we’re talking Marks and Spencers quality. Mexx is much better quality and they have stores here.
What makes Zara special is that they sell high quality clothes at reasonable prices and also have an amazing turnaround time for their products (6 weeks from initial design to shop). If they keep the pricing structure the way they have in the rest of europe they will wipe the floor with the competition.
Exactly – any new trend appears in the shop almost before the ultra chic labels have them!
As for Mexx – pah!
Not being particularly welldressed or interested, i quite liked the zara i visited in Barcelona…. the other half on the other hand cannot wait for the store to open….
observer, modern buildings not lending themselves to public buildings, nice new cobbles, bad modern shop (ill agree with that one tho) ,
are you observing through the eyes of prince charles ?
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