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anybody see the dreadful estates on Prime Time Investigates last night. One can’t but winder that this terribly bleak estates had something to do with the Anti social behaviour (That and the parents and lack of law enforcement!)
there’s a big difference between a church spire and a high rise office or apartment block. Church spires punctuated the sky line and usually taper as they get taller. They are not generally oppresive but give visual interest to a skyline. Look at how St John’s Cathedral in Limerick soars from the flat plane of county limerick. It doesn’t dominate though even though it’s nearly 300 feet. Another difference is that these high rises didn’t establish any kind of presedent for a neighbourhood, nobody was going to build as high as the neogothic spire, but people fear (for good or bad) that if high rises are built that a precedent is set for all future building. So the comparison with church building isn’t really valid.
One could argue though that as we’re not building churches any more to pierce the skyline that we need to get our cotemporay buildings to do this. Compare the skyline of Dun Laoighre with its spires with the flat docklands which needs a few “spires” to break it up.
I think those hardwood timbers like Cedar or teak are supposed to turn a silver/gey over time and not need any coating. They’re not supposed to have that “varnished” look. I know it doesn’t alway work out that way but that’s the theory,
. Also the silvery color isn’t to everybody’s taste as they may be used to the glossy varnished look but they just need to get with it!
Lack of public seating is really disgraceful. Everybody is a consumer. God forbid that you’d take a break that didn’t involve buying an overpriced coffee. What about women that need to breastfeed her baby?
Here’s the latest from Frank on this saga………….
Irish Times 24/11/05
Cork: a city I’ve always liked a lot
nicemove.ie
Right of Reply . . . but poor urban design is having a negative impact on its fabric , says Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Owen O’Callaghan’s piece last Thursday’s in Property must be welcomed. Whatever about its scathing tone, I’m glad that he didn’t take his own advice to ignore what I wrote the previous week about the poor architectural quality of some recent schemes in Cork.
We need more public debate in Ireland about architecture and urban design.
And since property developers play such a significant role in commissioning new buildings, it is always good to get their views on the record – particularly as so few of them are prepared to speak out.
Yes, the piece I wrote was negative, about Mahon Point and Merchants Quay shopping centres and the new development by O’Callaghan Properties on Lavitt’s Quay, as well as other schemes, such as the recently completed office block on Lapp’s Quay.
Mr O’Callaghan accuses me of “pontificating”. Yet most of the architecture columns I have written in this supplement over the years have been positive, highlighting the good work done by architects in Ireland – including Cork, which is a city I have always liked a lot.
I do not, as he suggested, hold any resentment of Cork and its success because I happen to be a Dubliner. Indeed, I have argued more than once that Cork should be at least twice its size (the same goes for Limerick and Galway), to counterbalance Dublin’s dominance.
I have also condemned the Government’s outrageous decision to overlook Cork for decentralisation. Instead of recognising the city as a real asset by relocating 920 public servants there, they were to be dispersed throughout the county, from Clonakilty right around to Youghal.
In previous articles on Cork, I wrote positively about the successful re-making of Patrick Street by Catalan architect Beth Ghali, the superb Glucksman Gallery at UCC by O’Donnell and Tuomey, and how Cork’s year as European Capital of Culture would focus attention on its potential.
It is against that backdrop, on the strength of four trips to Cork this year, that I was dismayed to find evidence – in the form of poor quality buildings – that the tired old “anything is better than nothing” approach to urban renewal seemed to be asserting itself in the city.
Every city has a character that makes it special, a genius loci or “spirit of place”. In Cork’s case, this is bound up with the River Lee and the way in which buildings address its quays, full frontally and with sharp edges. It is part of the essential Cork and cannot be discounted.
This is not, as Mr O’Callaghan maintained, a “formulaic mindset”, but rather a recognition of the character of the city. New buildings fronting the river must, therefore, address the quay primarily; they should not be designed in a way that gives equal prominence to side streets.
His own development at 21 Lavitt’s Quay is a mistake in that context. Not only is it grossly overscaled, but it celebrates the corner as if it was addressing two spaces of equal status – even though one is an 18th century river landscape and the other is merely a service lane.
By doing so, it severs the continuity of the quay and erodes the character of the city. The same applies to the new office block on Lapp’s Quay and even to the Clarion Hotel, even though it is obviously very welcome as a new place to stay in the heart of Cork.
On the issue of scale, I have never suggested that building heights in the centre of Cork – or of Dublin – should be limited to two or three storeys, as Mr O’Callaghan claimed was my “credo”.
That would be nonsensical. But a little more respect for context wouldn’t go amiss.
It will be interesting, and instructive, to see his plans for the Adelaide Street area. Will the shopping centre he wants to build there be inward-looking like Merchants Quay, or will it take on board new ideas in retail circles by retaining the tight urban grain with open-air malls? Yes, Cork has seen an unprecedented level of development in recent years.
But its “previous atrophied state”, as he described it, meant that the city managed to retain much of its fabric and was relatively unsullied, until now, by bad architecture and even worse urban design.
@Radioactiveman wrote:
See post above rodger… try not to get too smart about it ]Rear[/B] of new Pharmacy building during construction.
Yeah, not great. Don’t like all those swing out windows either,
That’s not St. Mary’s Cathedral in Limerick but Mary’s RC Chrurch. They’re quite close to each other.
is athlone not a cathedral?
what is the architecture of the church of ireland cathedral? chistchurch and St. Patrick’s eetc? largely victorian now since restoration?
why is belfiels still such a wasteland. Has having a school of architecture there influence on what gets built?
I used to live on sheare’s street so i know that takeaway that is being redeveloped. No objections here. Remember when those Share houses for the elderly were considered cutting edge in the 80’s.? I supposse they’ve aged well enough and respect the urban grain of the area.
I lived in the restored Fenns Quay that won praise from all quarters. One thing always annoyed me was the complete lack of sound prroofing in that scheme. Someone could sneeze on the ground floor and you’d hear it 2 floors up. They paid so much attention to conservation but not enough to solutions like a bit of sond insulation in the floor boards. We’d no carpets or curtains that woul’ve helped. Double glazing wasn’t an option but the sash windows were’nt very well made. Still, it was a good place to live very central anyway!
I never knew there was a place called Castletroy/Annacotty?
Is there any such thing as a green belt out there. Seems the relenetless suburbanisation continues unabated.
They should call it Castletroy/Lisnagry/Annacotty viille. It’ll be all the one soon. Does anybody think that a little village like Annacotty actually needs a shopping centre?
“……….Individual Belief,Individual Faith and the rights of the Individual to exist at whatever level THEY wish irrespective of the effects this Individiality has on the collective lives co-existing with them on this little Island………”
That sounds more like Protestantism to me!
any plans to reopen the old rail line that runs near parc ui chaoimh? It used to run out to rochestown crosshaven I think. remember walking along it near blackrock, the line is till there. sometimes i think rather than open this middleton line which will just lead to more dispersed housing that light rail should be provided to the inner suburbs like douglas and bishopstown etc. Hopefully higher density living would develop along the route (might involve a bit of demolition or infill)
