Stack A

I believe it is to be glazed.

Southern end wasn’t much to look at anyway as it had been chopped of to widen the road and was replaced with a brick wall.

One of the policys in restoring this protected structure is to “remove the late 19th century intervention at the southern facade of the warehouse and provide a more suitable termination of the building on the quayside.”

Last I heard it was to be glass alright.

The roof is spectacular – The shadows and light interact nicely as you pass by along the quays now taht you can see in.

Photos:
http://64.78.50.172//uploads/pdfs/Stack%20A%20for%20web.pdf

Details:
http://64.78.50.172/uploads/pdfs/StackAConservPlan.pdf

Found this in a press release from Oct 2001 from the DDDA (on their site)

They are putting a pedestrian bridge across too:

http://www.ddda.ie/cold_fusion/features.cfm?counter=36

Nothing to do with Stack A but are the DDDA planning to do anything about their offices? They stick out like a sore thumb at the moment especially with the Campshires now completed and more so when the bridge etc. are completed!

I notice that a detail not obvious from the water-colour sketch is that the original wrought-iron and slate cap-roof is being replaced with corregated aluminium sheets.
This strikes me as cheap-and-nasty not conservation, it also looks terrible.

Billj, the corregated aluminium sheets you have seen are the Kingspan insulation which is being fixed to the original structure and the original slate placed on top on batons. The watercolour is now out of date but the glass front is correct, this will actually go down to basement level in a well to expose the vaults.

this is looking really beautifull now, from across the river you can see the fantastic interior wrought-iron work.

Over time there have been many proposals for the Georges Dock area.

From Abercrombie’s plan to drain the dock and build a covered car park right through to Dermot Desmonds ambitous eco-sphere on the site of Stack A.

As a preservationist I am happy to see this project nearing completion, and I am even happier that the end wall has been opened up. I presume it will entice many passers by in from the quays.

A photo would be great

Preferably a photo without that architectural gem known as Jury’s;)

Now it is called CHQ. Stack A does not suit its new upmarket shopping image!

Neither does CHQ. They obviously want a catchy name for the yuppies: “Eau-kay (D4 accent), oi’ll see yeau at CHQ”. But I don’t know if it works.

i was suprised they changed the name; stack a sounds great.

Yeah, Stack A was better.

Anyone see an article from Sunday on DDDA’s about turn for the shopping element for the development (can’t remember which paper – sorry). Basically it’s now going to be just homewares and a snooty wine shop! Yeah – that will really pull in the punters on a Saturday. I can’t help but feel that giving the entire space over to Harvey Nichols would have been a better option – that would really be a draw for people to head that direction on the weekends when the IFSC is dead.

Stack A is way better, gritty, industrial etc etc

As for Jurys – why, how, I mean…
And is that aggregate concrete facing the ground floor?

I agree that Stack A is a better name, much more authentic and a better description of the project.

I think that the marketting of the project to UK retail has influenced the name in an attempt to market this as Canary Wharf Dublin.

Ask your typical Irish person where the Custom house is they know, but I suspect few would know that the Quay goes as far as North Wall Quay.

I think that in the longer term it will be good (apart from the name) as it should attract new retail and move the IFSC away from it’s current selection of Spars and Centras.

I believe that in Spencer Dock there is going to be a ban on Spars and Centras, according to Rob Ticknell of Treasury the retail element will be carefully selected to ensure a higher standard of retail content.

Is that a subtle way of getting a select clientel?

diaspora, don’t forget the m&s

Fair enough,

Same selection of rubbish, and I have yet to connect M&S with a market town or new city quarter atmosphere.

Apparently the thinking is trying to create a mix between the new style of the West end of Temple Bar and the commercial success of Ranelagh.

An M&S would be a disaster in this development or Spencer Dock, why not have an Aldi cat least you could get nostalgic about all those 88-D cars

i meant don’t forget to add m&s to the centra, spar and mace list. i wasn’t saying it was good thing.

ps, i am hoping for an aldi at the point depot end. we need somewhere in the area to buy cheap packets of pasta and cartons of juice.

As an ex iFSC resident – I am now jelous that there is an M&S Simply food shop down there now – All that walking to Henry street to buy stuff, grr.

Correct that it shouldn’t be in Stack A but it’s in the right location on excise walk, and it’s a million miles away from Spar and their range of crap. Nowt wrong with Aldi/lidl though

i think this is getting a bit detailed, but the m&s simply food is too small and too expensive, the samwiches are better than spar etc, but it isn’t really so different. of course i live in the east wall so i amn’t the sort of people they are hoping for anyway.

now the milanos on excise walk is super, the staff are so friendly.

The new look stack a is starting to come together

Some more

What happened there? Some more

One more after this

And one at the the new look riverfront

It looks like the 1986 original vision drawings of Georges Dock or the custom house docks as it was then. It must be the longest conservatory in the State if not Europe. I am not enirely sure on the standard of glazing and I think the angled bit at the top looks gimmacky and won’t look at all well in autumn.

That said the end elevation (jpeg5) looks great and the ‘conservatory’ frames the arch that has been quite forlorn in recent years. I was however under the impression that the entire scheme would have been of the same spec as the end.

A very mixed impression from the photos I am going to wait for completion before I know what my overall impression is.

it looks like a greenhouse from one of those garden centres. well pics 1/2/3. pic 5 is kinda confusing but i like the way the old stone(i presume) mixes well with the glazing. always knew they went well together. they seem to bring something out in each other.and that looks out to the river.

I was passing Stack A and all the hoardings have come down, it is starting to look fantastic I can’t wait until it opens. It really is a great bit of conservation architectural design and the Doclands Authority should have taken it on years before now. But to be fair the Docklands have delivered results and not derelict sites.

but what is going on, it has been finished for at least three months now and it looks fantastic but there is no sign of a final fit out.

Hopefully this will breath some life into the Docklands in terms of People actually using the spaces provided. Any time I’ve ventured up in that direction and especially around Clarion Quay, it seems to be a pristine, clean, architectural wasteland, these places seem devoid of life. Perhaps it is simply a coicidence, but outside office hours do these spaces ever look used :confused: ?

when were you last there CM00? it is a lot better snce the NCI opened about 18 mnths ago.

Yeah, you’re right, it was about 18 months ago! Good to hear things have changed, and hopefully the “New” Spencer Dock will continue that success

Yeah, I was down at the NCI yesterday and there is definitely a much better feel about the place.
Last year I’m sure I spotted a tumble weed blow by as I walked down Mayor St.

A bit off the topic, I wonder will the move of the DITs out to Grangegorman affect life in the city.
The Kevin St, Aungier St area definitely won’t feel the same without the students. :confused:

when they move the crazies out of grangegorman and stick em into the vacant colleges, i’m sure things will improve.

http://www.ireland.com/photosales/WebObjects/PSITShop.woa/wa/p?c=xFmn65lN1GMkVnQedcvaFHaYhZcHfq8t8X2KIoidjiU.N

whats this arch?

please fill me in

wow that looks unusual that the arch thats already there, i wonder if they really would have busses driving around it? i preusme that use to have practical use?

Its the stone gateway that allowed access to the Custom House docks when they were completely walled in. It replaces an earlier wooden gateway and dates from around 1851 …. in the original Hardwick / McInnerney / British Land proposal for the docklands, it was to be place where the Luas pulls into Connolly Station…..

It was George Lee’s favourite news backdrop in the crazy boom years – the IFSC being the centre of the financial world :¬)

He used to get so exited, before Charlie Bird tamed his enthusiasm for all things capital after NIB.

BTW there were two pieces on the Docklands in the Business Post today of Interest, firstly the DDDA has appointed a Director of Architecture. John McLaughlin joind from BDP, a UCD graduate he also worked at Atelier Gaudin Architects in Paris notably on the National Museum of Asian Art and on the Charlety Athletics Stadium which won the Equerred’Argent prize, and was a finalist for the Mies Van Der Rohe award for European Architecture.

I really hope his appointment leads to higher standards in Docklands architecture and this guy certainly has the CV to know what he’s doing.

The Weihnachtsmarket has opened in Mayor Square and features 50 traders selling Christmas gifts, and it is great to see yet another DDDA event kicking off although I must wish good luck to them as I wouldn’t fancy spending all day in December in the great outdoors.

Its not open yet!

October a little Dickie Bird told me

This is a scandal, a number of good visitor attraction suggestions were made to the DDDA, Interactive science museums for example have a well-established ability to bring in huge crowds and with Dublin’s shortage of childrens activities, it would have done great. Instead, they were fixed on shopping and dazzled by the idea of Harvey Nicks, the cultural subsidy was wasted and then they couldn’t get tenants, presumably for the want of footfall, now they are going to have a hotel, like that’s exciting, and a few resteraunts and to get footfall up they are going to put the abbey on stilts, ruining one of the finest parts of the docklands areas. Fucking idiots.

What in the name of all that’s sane is a ’boutique hotel’?

boutique hotel = independent (generally) and unique hotel designed to appeal to the hip element. kinda like the morrison but usually a little smaller.
why does it always appear that you’re damned if u do and damned if you dont!!?!!
at least the buildings werent bulldozed and replaced by a 4 storey box…

@Graham Hickey wrote:

What in the name of all that’s sane is a ’boutique hotel’?

It’s like a wellbeing area, only bigger :rolleyes:

But in relation to the absolute absence of physical cultural facilities in the IFSC/DDDA administered area, can someone please explain how developments clear planning and/or are spun by exempted development authorities as containing ‘CULURAL PROJECTS’ that never materialise.

Temple Bar
The Harp area
Stack A

Will Heuston Gate be next?

Thomond Park I was surprised you include Harp in that list; I thought they were better than the others.

It is insomuch as that it has the National Museum and Jameson Distillery amongst others but the point I was making is a more general one about different areas being described as ‘The Next Cultural Quarter’ with most of the cultural elements discussed pre plan never materialising upon completion.

They are a bit of a dodgy addition though aren’t they….. I mean how many scheme have we seen in recent years with some pointless ‘Museum of’ attached to it. Maritime in Dun Laoghaire, Children in Heuston…. I personally find them a bit gimmicky. I suppose that is the point though. They sell the idea to the planning authorities but once the scheme is approved and commences they suddenly become unviable and before you can say ‘cultural attraction’ they become a superpub (with a cultural theme of course)

Im looking forward to seeing Stack A open. I think the DDDA finished off this whole area very well. Just went by it last night having again being told to dismount from my bike on the new bridge. I wonder how long the security will last. Gripes about building height and style aside I think the Docklands looks like a really inviting place in the summer. I think its important taht the section south of OConnell St should be carefully developed to encourage people down towards the Docklands.

HARP: But there are also those new dance studios behind talbot street, Pallas Heights and the Firehouse Art Studios on like Sean McDermott street.

I am looking forward to Stack A opening, but I do think it is a waste; there are a million buildings in Dublin suitable for a Botique Hotels, ironically this is the new suggestion for that school were they were going to put the Abbey. Many of the cultural attractions are a crock because noone really cares, but at least two of the suggestions for the Stack House had real passion behind them: a gallery suitable for large works and an encylopedic display of irish art perhaps from the opw collections and an interactive science museum, the latter something the town needs and a sure winner if done right. I also think that putting the abbey on the dock might be nice, but the dock is great as it is and the abbey could have a greater transformative potential if put somewhere else.

@notjim wrote:

HARP: But there are also those new dance studios behind talbot street, Pallas Heights and the Firehouse Art Studios on like Sean McDermott street.

All in the North East Inner City Area which was never described as the next cultural quarter, I think that the Firehouse Art Studios is actually on Buckingham St.

how funny! i thought harp came all the way over to amiens street and gave them all sort of false credit. so is the point that this is the council acting directly and they have more sense of organic improvement than any of these pumped up development authorities.

HARP and NEIC Area are both City Coucil projects,. Only the Docklands is an outside body now. Even Temple Bar has been subsumed back into the Council. I agree with your point about Georges Dock – I though it looked great last night with the Footsbarn at its centre. It seems like a waste to change it all again even before it has managed to develop. However maybe it was always seen as a difficult elemnt in the Docklands masterplan and this is just the opportunity it needed.

Any opinion on the liberty Corner development on Foley St. I think it looks quite nice. Vastly superior to Independant House beside it. I also notice that work has finally begun on the Talbot St Foley St link scheme whihc will see a new entertainment centre and a new street. Its the site under the railway bridge for those who are unfamiliar.

Also down this end of town…. a particularly lifeless apartment block has been unveiled at Five Lamps while the opposite corner, derelict for some time, has been demolished for the development of yet another apartment block. And guess who the tennants will be for the retail units that will conprise both developments….

so the really irratating thing about the five lamps devlopment is that the only good feature, the curve along the front, isn’t carried by the penthouse.

Yes it awkward looking isnt it. And such a dull choice of brick. Another poor ttreatment of a prominent corner. The new apartment building on Gardiner St/Summerhill is very similar in style albeit with a rendered finish instead of brick. The developers of the new Amiens St development changed their original plan for a medical centre and small business units at ground floor level to a large convenience store. Its a joke considering that Spar or Centra will be taking residence just across the street. You can see the future…. The Blighting of Dublin by Frank MacDonald – a comment on the inexorable rise of convenience stores.

Nothing only more convenience stores it would seem alright how can the planners give permission for two directly opposite each other where none exist now?

BTW Why is it taking so long for Stack A to open? It looks nearly finished from the outside I can’t undetand it

i’m guessing no anchor.

True. Its been finished for 18 months.

One has now been found i believe. Fitout work starting in a couple of weeks.

The proliferation of convenience stores dosen’t seem to bring the prices down either. A tin of beans for €1.20 in the Londis near me!!!!
Whether Spar, Centra, SuperValu or Londis they all stock the same line of products which makes for a very homogenous streetscape.

The one that stands out as a bit different is the ‘Top in Pops’ (or something like that) shop on Gardiner St, just beside the Parnell St junction. It has a little bit more atmosphere. I remember this here when all the buildings around were ruined. I wonder how long it will last. I must take a photograph before it disappears. A new Spar opened nearby on Cumberland St a while ago and another is due to open soon just opposite.

The Spar on Camden St is very good and not that expensive either it is featured on their tv ad’s and must have a floor plate of about 1000 sq m. Critically however there is little in it that you can’t get in Dunnes Stores on Georges St.

I hope that Stack A does not have either a Spar/Centra type anchor or even a SuperValue, it would want to be someone new I think that Mortons (Dunville Avenue Ranelagh) would make the perfect anchor or something similar.

Hugh O Regan is taking the lot of it.

@notjim wrote:

This is a scandal, a number of good visitor attraction suggestions were made to the DDDA, Interactive science museums for example have a well-established ability to bring in huge crowds and with Dublin’s shortage of childrens activities, it would have done great. Instead, they were fixed on shopping and dazzled by the idea of Harvey Nicks, the cultural subsidy was wasted and then they couldn’t get tenants, presumably for the want of footfall, now they are going to have a hotel, like that’s exciting, and a few resteraunts and to get footfall up they are going to put the abbey on stilts, ruining one of the finest parts of the docklands areas. Fucking idiots.

could not agree more!!!

Well done Abbey Board, you went completely bankrupt, put on nothing but o’casey and Friel and sold the directors role on the main stage to a fundraiser who had only previously directed tv commercials, you have spent over 1/4 million on sets for a single play, your greatest contribution to the stage in centenary year was dion boucicault, you have a whole department for reading submitted scripts yet havent staged one since 1932, you believe accountability is a dirty word.

HAVE A NEW THEATRE!

Well with that management board the proposal for the IFSCwould surely not have had a sufficient foundation to survive the muddy ground within Georges Dock. I seriuosly doubt that the bunch of government appointed hacks that are likely to replace them will be any better, the Gaiety is exactly how a theatre should be run and the only way to make the Abbey profitable is to have an Abbey productions company who tour for 60% of the year and an Abbey Theatre that hosts the production company for 40% of the year and hold profitable events for the other 60% of the year to keep losses at an acceptable level.

My fear is that after the latest debacle that the Abbey as a source of creative cultural output has been damaged significantly, how this was allowed to happen in its centenary year beggars belief, 4m is very little in real terms if the expenditure was planned, applied for and refused by the department of Sport, Golf Courses and boat houses.

do you mean the gaiety or the gate? the gaiety isn’t really a source of creative cultural output,

@notjim wrote:

do you mean the gaiety or the gate? the gaiety isn’t really a source of creative cultural output,

I wish I meant the Gate from a cultural point of view by I actually mean a Gaiety style financial model for 224 days a year to fund a home to the Abbey for 141 days a year and a travelling Abbey for the remainder.

The problem with cultural institutions the world over is that they are run by cultural people and not by financial managers, if the Abbey were run like a business it would deliver a free space for the creative output which in turn could be fully financed from ticket sales and corporate support with the government picking up the slack in a bad year or for special events like centenaries etc.

As it stands the Abbey is not maximising income from its current holdings and is not a good case for corporate support because it is run by people who have little understanding of corporate culture. Which makes it very easy for government to refuse funding.

The DCC claims that allowing cyclists to use the bridge would ensure they Dublin cyclists say bridge ban a ‘disgrace’
From:ireland.com
Monday, 29th August, 2005

Dublin cyclists have expressed their anger at being prohibited from using the new Sean O’Casey bridge near the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

The Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) this morning called the decision to ban cyclists from the bridge as a “disgrace”.

“This is despite the fact that the bridge offers the safest, most efficient and ‘cleanest’ way to cross the Liffey for cyclists travelling from/to the north and south east of the city,” said David Maher of DCC.

“The bridge could easily have been designed to safely accommodate both cyclists and pedestrians,” he continued. “However the authorities seem determined to ignore the rights of cyclists and so have imposed this insane ban.

“What ever happened to good planning and promoting sustainable transport? This decision is little more than transport vandalism,” he said.

The DCC claims that allowing cyclists to use the bridge would ensure they avoided one of Dublin’s most dangerous stretches of roads. Ends

Personally I think this guy should stop whinging about the little hassle of cyclists having to dismount walk what 50-60m? Remount and cycle onward; the serious delay on the Macken St bridge is a much more important failure in City transport policy.

To be honest, the cycle path issue is one of serious umbridge (no pun intended) to myself. The DDDA were given a carte blanche in laying a cycle path from the Point to the new foot bridge and they’ve made a complete balls of it. Between Spencer Dock and the Point they’ve inserted three chicanes along the path with sharp (45 degree) turns on it. Normally I’d simply cycle through the chicane but trucks and camper vans are using them for parking 😡 As you continue up the path it simply dissapears for stretches where the red asphalt is replaced by natural stone. Then it finishes completely with no path back on to the road at the Spencer Dock drawbridge. Starts again after the bridge, stops for the two cafes, starts again, stops for the DDDA offices and doesn’t come back. All the way you have pedestrians obliviously walking along the middle of the track.

I mean, laying a cycle track along side the N11 was just too funny as it rolled up and down the cambers of driveways, in between bus stops and buses and generally all over the shop as if the guy with the asphalt was drunk. But when they have a blank canvess and loads of cash and still make a bollix of it it defies logic/belief. I wrote to the DDDA as it was being layed (I could see the out line of the chicanes early on) and I think my mail was ejected into the soup and floated out to sea !!!

stack a is looking nice. It makes a great change. i quite like the look of glass. i don’t know what it is really, it just looks really well. a particular building near millennium tower uses glass combined with the old stone. looks well. london has several glass building which i really do like. glass buildings are also efficient which is a big plus.

just a pity its empty!

One has to wonder just what is the motivation behind the non-occupation of Stack A; it looked stunning last night with its Christmas lights as did the Dock and yet not a tenant in the place.

Well the DDDA can’t make up its mind. The museum plan for part of it was dropped and from what I understand Harvey Nicks wanted to set up there but DDDA wouldn’t give them the whole thing so they went to Dundrum instead. Then Hugh O’Regan came in and obviously has since backed out. Stack A was supposed to draw people to the docklands area and make it more vibrant at the weekends. I don’t see how the current plan for arts and crafts type stores will do that. That’s destination retail.

Five months on and still no sign of an end use emerging does anyone know what is to become of this building?

so i am in boston at the moment and visited the science museum last weekend, a bit out of the way, but what a zoo, completely crowded, huge crowds of happy people – they made such a mistake with this building when they turned down the science museum idea.

@Thomond Park wrote:

Five months on and still no sign of an end use emerging does anyone know what is to become of this building?

Meadows and Byrne will be announced as an anchor in coming weeks. Ely has already opened apparently

Cheers for this jdivision your clarification is yet again appreciated.

I am happy to see this building be reused in a modern context and see it earn its corn I hope that time proves that this is a commercial success as well as a worthy piece of urban regeneration.

https://archiseek.com/content/showpost.php?p=53073&postcount=60

Thanks for that Jdivision it is great to see the risk being taken and I agree that this building has the capacity to become the most pleasant docklands space thus far. What that says about contemporary commercial architecture in Dublin is really not very positive.

It’s a magnificent place – it’ll do wonder for the image of the IFSC. Beutifully finished inside and out – achingly so: it’s tailored within an inch of its life 🙂
In a way it’s a pity that it’s so close to Phase 1 and the city; the further reaches of Docklands could probably do with this amenity more than the location in which it’s sited.

Poor old George’s Dock next door – it was full of this algae four weeks ago and looked absolutely disgusting. An embarrassment to the city:

Does this happen every year?
How it was allowed to build up like this I don’t know – was there a sewage leak or other form of bacterial pollution?
In any event, it was dealt with swiftly soon after, with the Dock being completely emptied and the algae collected from the floor:

Suppose our new floating Abbey will soon sort this problem :rolleyes:

Is it simply not a case that the weed grows on the bottom of every dock like this, but because the DDDA decided to raise the floor of Georges Dock it becomes visible?

There not weeds, thats algal bloom caused by enrichment of the water. Probably a lot to do with its shallowness though. I imaaine its quite stagnant. Good to see such a swift clean up…well done DDDA. As always in top form for maintaining their area.

@StephenC wrote:

There not weeds, thats algal bloom caused by enrichment of the water. Probably a lot to do with its shallowness though. I imaaine its quite stagnant. Good to see such a swift clean up…well done DDDA. As always in top form for maintaining their area.

If memory serves it’s being going on for years, the residents in the apartments (Custom House Quay?) have been complaining about smells from the dock since about a year after they were completed.

Id say its stagnant water then

Meadows and Byrne was confirmed this morning as the new anchor tenant for CHQ:
“The Dublin Docklands Development Authority confirmed that Meadows & Byrne has agreed heads of terms to take up the anchor space at chq in the IFSC. Encompassing 1,300 square metres at the Mayor Street end of the centre, it
will be Meadows & Byrne’s first city location in Dublin. Ely Restaurant
and Wine Bar already opened for business at chq and the remaining units are now being marketed by Bannon Commercial.”

that is a bit of a waste meadows and byrne aren’t going to turn the ifsc around.

Although i understand the docklands people wanting to get something going, more commercial outfits is a waste.

There are ample art pieces held in the national gallery stores to turn this into a gallery. same goes for a museum, perhaps focussing on geogian dublin.

Personnaly i think it would make an inspiring public baths , with saunas in the arched basement. and swimming pools underneath the wonderfull roof.

The original idea for a whole series of restaurants was a good one but this won’t work.

the Ifsc needs a proper attraction to get it off it’s feet.

Yes I think you are right a (can I call you a? :p ). So many of these new schemes seem to depend on restaurants and convenience stores. The idea of creating a destination dining area is a little more complex than simply providing a load of upmarket restuarnts in a swanky building. I think Stack A needs a big idea. I also think all this restaurant business is a little premature until the Abbey moves to Georges Dock…..remember that imminent announcement! :confused: However even that may not be enough as Marlborogh Street will testify to. I think a specialist arthouse would be a good idea….and maybe even a cinema.

mark my words the abbey will never move to the docks.

firstly i think when people realise exactly what is being offered they will oppose it fiercely.

On top of that the liebskind theatre is going to be built soon .I think the business man behind it knows that if he can get his theatre built and offer it for free to the government they won’t be able to refuse.

Especially since the location of the abbey is entirely political, and let’s face it it is going to be a country man who runs the dail next year. and he won’t care about the north side.

finnally there is the cost. There will have to be a international competition and the building won’t be cheap (say 30 million).

This has happened before . Stack A was meant to be the modern art gallery but it didn’t happen.

What i could see happening is the peacock moving to the leibskind and the abbey redevelopped where it is. (using the original facade). The change would be that the peacock became the large theatre and the abbey the smaller one. but i just don’t see the docks being filled in.

@a boyle wrote:

Stack A was meant to be the modern art gallery but it didn’t happen.

.

Not in my time. First it was to be a science museum, then Harvey Nicks, then a leisure complex, now *yawn* Meadows & Byrne

haughey moved it

a boyle: I don’t think we can bank on the national gallery collection having substantial depth beyond what is on display, maybe you know better but it seems to me that they have all the good pictures hanging, they have great pictures, but you didn’t get the feeling of treasures being unveiled when the extension was opened, instead there was a slightly disappointing process of adding more honest attributions.

i was surprised when the chamber of commerce came out a few weeks ago and said we needed to put more pictures on display to make dublin more of a cultural capital, i mean great and i am glad they think so but i don’t think there are lots of undisplayed pictures in the ngi collection (good to see that magner is loaning a modgaliani and the portrait of omai he loaned looks brilliant, maybe there are more good pictures in private hands that will slowly move into public display).

What we don’t have, but exists in public collections, is a comprehensive display of the really great art produced here in the 70s, but that isn’t going to bring in punters on its own, it would really be best done as part of an expansion of the imma. what we really don’t have, in public or private hands is a substantial collection of art from 1850-1950, that’s what people like most but it is hard to see where we will get that now.

the science museum was the best idea, they do great business and address a big need in this city. The modern art gallery idea was a place to display the scullys but they are now in the hugh lane and looking really beautifull.

lifting the bed of the dock was stupid idea, said so at the time.

oh don’t get me wrong i was simply musing of possibilities. In general museums have garguantuan amounts of things in store.

In fact there is one museum that does only show a fraction of its collection : chester beatty.

All i was trying to get at was the need for an attraction.

Not sure about a science museum … they usually need a lot of space , and stack A has a rather low ceiling, but it is a good idea.

Has anybody been to the spas in iceland of hungary , stack A is perfect for such an amenity!

@notjim wrote:

the science museum was the best idea, they do great business and address a big need in this city. The modern art gallery idea was a place to display the scullys but they are now in the hugh lane and looking really beautifull.

lifting the bed of the dock was stupid idea, said so at the time.

Totally agree Micheal Collins SC is a very smart man and it was with utter disbelief that I read of his support to site such an important cultural attraction on the margins of the City.

Given the link between Victoiana and Science the error is further accentuated; however in the absense of best practice I wish Meadows & Byrne a profitable occupation of this new venture and am sure that Bannon will fill the rest of the space in a very short time.

haven’t been to bath houses in either hungary or iceland, but i know the ingres painting of a turkish bath and sure, that would be great.

how about some dinosuars, they are actually pretty cheap because they are mostly plaster anyway. the nhm has a substantial undisplayed collections – don’t touch the nhm and have nmh II in the stack house.

Quick question: what is Meadows and Byrne? I’ve been thinking of Fallon and Byrne all along, the fancy food shop that recently opened on Exchequer St, until someone corrected me.

I’m wondering, in this debate, how many of you are aware of the size, structure and features of chq? I was down there a good bit over the weekend for the Dublin Bicycle Festival and I was struck by just how huge the building is. And by all accounts the basement is a fascinating place, but comprises a warren of brick vaulted tunnels/chambers running the length of the site that are subdivided arbitrarily and that lack any daylight at all.

Maybe it should just be used as the biggest off-licence in the city? Or a bicycle parking facility?:)

Furniture and household goods shop, its a real waste in my view; now fallon and byrne i’d be more happy with, their place is great.

Thanks notjim.

Makes me think- perhaps Ikea should put one of their new town centre stores here, given their move away from the car-based edge-city types in the UK. Although maybe they have a deal with Dick Roche whereby they can’t change their mind now that he’s rewritten the rule book for them…

@notjim wrote:

how about some dinosuars, they are actually pretty cheap because they are mostly plaster anyway. the nhm has a substantial undisplayed collections – don’t touch the nhm and have nmh II in the stack house.

i like that.

how curious that in the space of a lazy friday afternoon several viable ideas have been tossed up, by a set of people who have never met.

Considering the docklands people are specifically entrusted to develop the docklands , what a disapointing sham all around.

What is even more curious is that just today they have reported roughly 20 million euros of monies available to them .

This would go long way to

a public spa,
a second natural histroy museum,
a new headquarters for the chester beatty library,
a science museum,
(a transport museum ? )

furthermore we can be pretty certain that this wedding list shop were given a big discount to woo them to the site and will no doubt close at the least sign of trouble. It is a pitty but this will cement the complete void that is the ifsc.

so following this one thing i thought abou myself is a cabinet of curiousities in the old fashioned sense, in short all the musuems and galleries etc get a little space and contribute a few items, a dinosaur, a stuffed lion, some old pictures, some new ones, the most recent venice bienniele, a small bat house, something scientific from the universities, an old tram, nelsons head, a tank of jelly fish, some irish books, some asian etc along with some learned narritive and a fine cafe and shop. it would be kind of cool and kind of unique.

Anyone know about the pointing on stack-A? It looks wrong to me, with the joints protruding from the brickwork. Is it meant to be like that?

I think it’s “tuck-pointing” but I don’t know any more than that. I wonder was it built like that?

@Lotts wrote:

Anyone know about the pointing on stack-A? It looks wrong to me, with the joints protruding from the brickwork. Is it meant to be like that?

AFAIK, pointing should never protrude from brickwork as it provides a shelf on which moisture can settle and penetrate the wall. The whole point of pointing is to keep moisture off the wall. If it’s on the internal sections of brick wall then this wouldn’t be such a problem, but it still shouldn’t be done, and given the money spent on the place to date it’s a pity they couldn’t get something as basic as this right.

Any pics?

@notjim wrote:

so following this one thing i thought abou myself is a cabinet of curiousities in the old fashioned sense, in short all the musuems and galleries etc get a little space and contribute a few items, a dinosaur, a stuffed lion, some old pictures, some new ones, the most recent venice bienniele, a small bat house, something scientific from the universities, an old tram, nelsons head, a tank of jelly fish, some irish books, some asian etc along with some learned narritive and a fine cafe and shop. it would be kind of cool and kind of unique.

a museum that kids of all ages would want to go to… a nice idea

It was meant to be a science museum at some stage wasn’t it? (I think this was discussed here at some stage before). Anyway, I think it is a severly wasted opportunity as it is at present.

The area described by ctesiphon as a
“warren of brick vaulted tunnels/chambers running the length of the site that are subdivided arbitrarily and that lack any daylight at all”
would be brilliant for hosting a cabinet of curiosities as mentioned in notjims post.
I’m very in favour if the idea. If located in the vaults it would not even impact on the commercial offerings above.

The extent of the vaults is visible in the plans in the
chq brochure

Although only a portion of the area is open and available at the moment it seems.

Anyway , back on pointing. I think I’ve answered my own question with a bit of research: It was bothering me because it really looks like someone went to a lot of trouble to get it looking the way it does. What I described earlier today as looking wrong 😮 is indeed tuck-pointing and is absolutely correct from a conservation point of view, as it seems the building was originally finished in this way. The
Conservation Plan
says
“The external peripheral walls are built of bonded brickwork with imported brown/yellow stock facings laid in Flemish bond. The original lime mortar pointing is badly weathered but vestiges of old mortar indicate that the brickwork was formerly tuck-pointed. “

It seems that in most cases tuck pointing was used to disguise poor quality, chipped and irregular bricks. This difficult, but essentially deceptive practice was described by J Seddon in the
Civil Engineer and Architects Journal in 1863 as “the lowest depth of the abomination into which modern practice has fallen.”
I’d love to show him how much further it was possible to fall with some of the horror pictures posted by Devin and others elsewhere on this site!

I don’t think the bricks used in stack-a were too bad though, so I wonder was there an aesthetic reason in this case. …?

I don’t have any photos but there are pictures of similar here http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/deselem/extwall/point.htm

further history here: http://www.brickmaster.co.uk/tukcpointing.htm

So finally, it seems to me (after a little bit of educating myself), that the DDDA have done an excellent job on this aspect of the restoration too. 🙂 Well done!

shop fit outs to commence in December on Stack A / CHQ with intention to open in April ’07.
M&B and a Terence Conran restaurant are the only definites at this stage though.

@ctesiphon wrote:

Thanks notjim.

Makes me think- perhaps Ikea should put one of their new town centre stores here, given their move away from the car-based edge-city types in the UK. Although maybe they have a deal with Dick Roche whereby they can’t change their mind now that he’s rewritten the rule book for them…

There is only one site in the country that currently qualifies for an Ikea, the one in Ballymun. They changed the legislation just for them so it’d be a bit of a slap in his face if they then applied for an intown store.

@jdivision wrote:

There is only one site in the country that currently qualifies for an Ikea, the one in Ballymun. They changed the legislation just for them so it’d be a bit of a slap in his face if they then applied for an intown store.

Only one site in the whole country? How fortunate! What a felicitous coincidence!! :rolleyes:

Have to say, I’d pay good money to see Dick Roche getting a slap in the face. Even a metaphorical one would do in the meantime… There’s something about his tone of voice that raises my hackles every time- that smarmy, patronising, ‘you obvoiusly don’t understand the issue, little boy’ quality that makes even M. Cullen sound sincere and caring. Sort of.

@ctesiphon wrote:

Only one site in the whole country? How fortunate! What a felicitous coincidence!!.

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/01/09/story1455.asp

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/01/30/story1967.asp

These will be of interest. It’s a pity they screwed Costco because I think that’d be a good addition to the Irish retail sector.

I think about these buildings all the time. Even though I’m bracing myself for the dull, unimaginative retail fixture this fantastic architectural piece will eventually deteriorate into, I have to say I’m really enjoying this stage right now of it existing purely as this sculptural part of the landscape. Forget about the plans and articles. Right now, it’s nothing inside. It’s pure potential.

Generally it’s cause for impatience when a finished building takes so long to ‘open’ but in the case of Stack A, I have to say I’m enjoying this period of emptiness. One of the best things about Stack A going uninhabited for so long is that it’s become this great canvas — not quite blank, but still with so much to be filled in — for daydreamers such as ourselves to wax imaginative on its many possibilities and uses. A spa? A science musuem? A modern art museum? None of the above?

In daylight, a few signs of partitions inside — a blight on the blank canvas. How could anyone want to split this thing up into tiny boxes?

Another interesting feature of the redevelopment of these buildings is how the original shape/materials and new glazing combine to create a surface that changes dramatically in different light. A rare structure that looks just as intriguing no matter the natural light.

You know this is the kind of image that architects love — oh, it will reflect the color of the sky and the buildings opposite (think back to the optimistic renderings of the glass-facade beast beside City Hall) — how cool!

Forgetting that most days are like this:

And still — lovely, desolate, full of possibility.

nice pictures.

so its all antony cronin’s fault then?

@Hays wrote:

Dublin’s newest city centre retail development is due to launch in October this year and in line with this, a newly created opportunity exists for an experienced Property Manager who will have sole responsibility for the overall management of this exciting new shopping centre development.

The CHQ building is a retail and dining destination in the heart of the IFSC in the expanding Docklands area in Dublin’s city centre. The building constructed in 1821 was a banded warehouse and was recently refurbished and re-modelled by the Docklands Authority to provide a 21st century built environment with a difference.

Any takers?

Any word on what’s going in there?
I still want to see the basement level converted into a big, spacious, cosy bar, those arches look perfect for big comfy sofas and low lighting 🙂

OPEN! I walked through it this evening, it is lovely inside, the iron work on the ceiling is gorgeous and the units are quite classy, very sharp. Only about a third let, say 10 units for Meadow and Byrne, two coffee shops and about six additional units let out of say 40. Quite a flow of people, they added a door in the river side facade so coming over the O’Casey bridge it is like the obvious way to go if you are heading for the ifsc.

There are shops let to Meadows & Byrne, Starbucks, Nue Blue Eriu, Fran & Jane, Louis Copeland, Henry Jermyn, The Carphone warehouse, House of Tea, Kohl, Inis Meain knitting company, Kevin Sharkey and The Pink Room (whatever that is). Ely is there as well obviously and will be interesting to see if Conran is willing to open now. Official opening is today

Aye, haven’t looked inside yet but I noted they had people circling the perimiter on Segways with advertising banners attached (“Now open, CHQ”). Interesting marketing which i’ve yet to see elsewhere here.

With all the talk here about Stack A, not one picture of it has been posted since it opened as a high-end retail mall over a year ago, so here’s one.

The shop units are all floor-to-ceiling glazing within the cast iron structure. Westbury Mall it is not!
It’s beautifully executed, a testament to the appropriateness of minimal glazing in an historic setting when done properly.

When you walk through it, it’s hard to believe this building was lying here unseen for years on end. It’s a great asset to the docklands and to the city. Sadly it’s hard to see the retail mall lasting as there’s only ever a trickle of people through it, not to mention de current climate. Finding a use for the building and finally getting it open seemed to be such an epic saga that it would be awful to see it shut up again.

Info on the restoration here – RIAI chq

I often walk through this and, while the footfall is low during most of the day, it does get quite crowded at lunchtime, the little noodle place is packed for example. The retail has been surprisingly stable, nothing has closed yet as far as I can see.

Good. And I hope I’m wrong notjim! While Starbucks, Insomnia & the noodle place seem to be doing most of the business at the mo, footfall may go up when Luas is running? The location is so great, sandwiched between Sean O’Casey Bridge & Luas.

@notjim wrote:

I often walk through this and, while the footfall is low during most of the day, it does get quite crowded at lunchtime, the little noodle place is packed for example. The retail has been surprisingly stable, nothing has closed yet as far as I can see.

Most of them have two years rent free at least so they don’t have the normal major overhead for the moment. When they do they’ll close in droves

Shiittt !!

jdivision; maybe in the current climate (economies everywhere imploding, not just in your neck of the woods) owners will get more ‘realistic’ about rents and tenancies and value occupancy over empty. Saw this place in Dec; thought it a waste that the great space was compromised, but thought the sub-division had been done in the least offensive way. One of Dublin’s great interiors, surely.
When will the basement open? That will be a tour-de-force – anyone any pics?

@johnglas wrote:

jdivision; maybe in the current climate (economies everywhere imploding, not just in your neck of the woods) owners will get more ‘realistic’ about rents and tenancies and value occupancy over empty. Saw this place in Dec; thought it a waste that the great space was compromised, but thought the sub-division had been done in the least offensive way. One of Dublin’s great interiors, surely.
When will the basement open? That will be a tour-de-force – anyone any pics?

One of the city’s great interiors? Yes. Does it even begin to live up to what was promised in terms of retail mix? Definitely not. Does it even get close? No. Questions have to be asked about how it was handled, and the fact that the DDDA was willing to sell it off to a developer for less than what it cost to develop is illustrative. The fact he pulled out of the deal even more so. How any project can have 25% of its build cost go on professional fees is beyond me.
shopping centre landlords are proactively taking steps that you suggest. Rents are being reduced by many owners for those retailers who can produce documentary proof of their struggles. That would be a lot of them these days.
They can’t find anyone for the basement, terence conran pulled out ages ago

Yes, it’s a sad tale, but not untypical. Unpalatable as it may be, there are going to have to be many lines drawn under many dodgy deals, until this recession (depression?) is over. But we cannot go back to where we were and at least the building remains with a tremendous potential for the future.

Weren’t Harvey Nic’s interested in taking the whole thing pre their Dundrum outlet?

Hindsight is 20/20!

@d_d_dallas wrote:

Weren’t Harvey Nic’s interested in taking the whole thing pre their Dundrum outlet?

Yep but car parking issues meant they said no. In addition, rumour has it the DDDA didn’t want to give them the whole thing, so Harvey Nicks felt they wouldn’t have enough space to make it worthwhile.

Agreed it is a pity to see that aside from lunchtime, the place is pretty much empty… There are quite a few nice shops in there, that probably deserve a bit more passing trade. Admittedly it could probably have done with at least one more crowd-attracting brand like an M&S or something…

Ely CHQ makes pretty good use of the downstairs, the arches are very nice and make lovely intimate settings. However the rest of the downstairs is still empty and unused which is a shame, could be nice for an exhibition space at least.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0329/1224267278845.html

COLM KEENA Public Affairs Correspondent

A source said such matters are often progressed in parallel informal and formal processes, and this could explain the dates