GP
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Concrete – set of diving platforms?
How come this street fails in its potential? It is known widely around the world from the many period films it is used in. What would it cost in real money to fix? Why does it never seem to grab the attention of the legal profession for use as cahmbers or the like, surely this is a sympathetic solution?
A street of 18th century palazzios in a moribund part of the city – it seems unreal. I suspect that we will have to wait until the next boom.
The last comment I would make is about the briock option, is lokks good but just brings Breugels Tower of Babel to mind.
http://agnosticatheism.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/babel1.jpg
The problem with the type shopping centres we generally have is that they turn their back on the streets and the city they occupy. One only has to look at the monlithic walls of M&S and Jervis to understand the tendancy. This is why they are repugnant.
I have no problem with centres in the city but they have to be an extension of the street. We can look to Helsinki to see how this has been achieved with centres having connection to streets, metro etc. This is a city, giving up whole blocks that can be closed in the evening destroys the very idea of a living city.
Whilst it is a smelly place at times and the redevelopment had very questionable build values Temple Bar attracts people precisely because of the great mix of street, retail and residential. LIkewise Grafton Street survived with small streets and arcades as an extension of the street.
Rain is no excuse for letting developers build blocks that add nothing to the urban streetscape.
Should we be concentrating on the gables on the right in the first picture? Has a feel of Tailors Hall, second pic is too flat to be Cornmarket. The amazing thing is that this a blighted street, on that the engineers got their hands on and still is is recognisable a Dublin. Place and placelessness!. I wonder what they will say in 30 years when they are looking pics of glass sheet.
Gunter I have to say I follow your posts and like 99% of them but you are a real pain to put this one in our brains over the weekend.
Of all the things happening in the city at the moment, this is in my view the worst. We can have one off building that are ugly and missed chances to boot. What is happening here will sooner or later end up in people being seriously injured or worse. It defies all common sense, breaches all public safety norms and is a criminal horses ass of a scheme.
I don’t live in Dublin, it’s my home town and I visit about 6-7 times a year. A lot of what I see has been built is disappointing, but I remember the way things were, the city was blighted, much of what we see in the old photos looked attractive but the photos don’t convey the smell of grinding poverty that was prevalent. People are now educated and there is money and so future excuses are not acceptable.
Are those in the council prepared to take the normal personal accountability every company director must take and accept civil and criminal liability for the placing of these signs? They should be removed.
The bedding manufacturers looks very familiar, but I think there used to be another building on the south quays with the same signs. I agree with ctesiphon about the feel of North King Street, there is the feel therer used to be the markets area, a lot of mud and cobbles. It also it reminds me of the old Upper Abbey Street where Moorkins used to be. Having said that what about Queen Street? Final answer.
Missarchi gets the idea right about pedestrianisation of College Green plus car tunnel. Bus routes could be a problem. What about the archaeology? What happened the thingmote? Was this removed at the same time as the WSC changes?
In general Westmoreland Street is cheap and nasty. This is because it lies in no mans land between the north side and the south side. Frankly the city hasn’t given tripe about this area for decades. The Liffey is attended to in Docklands but generally never gets its walls washed or pointed. Why is this? For all the blankness of the Westin it is a classy hotel but faces onto sheer tat. The tat is compounded by the whole place being a filthy bus garage instead of a set down and pick up point for passengers. You wonder why it attracts Rail Station type functions? The streets all around are used for bus parking.
In my humble opinion there are a few options that should be considered. Buses should run down the quays eastward, past O’Connell Bridge towards the docks, loop over one of the new bridges and straight out of the city again. In the same vein buses should loop around D’Olier Street, into Westmorland Street and away again north out of the city. Buses along Pearse Street should also turn around and loop directly at College Green instead of standing their. Like wise what is the deal on Fleet Street, Townsend Street etc, etc? The whole area is unpleasant for people to linger in.
I remember a smart alecs comments on why the buses we had were Bombardier Buses because they were named aptly after the beetles:
Bombardier beetles store two separate chemicals (hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide). When they are threatened, the two chemicals are squirted through two tubes, where they are mixed along with small amounts of catalytic enzymes and undergo a violent exothermic chemical reaction. The boiling, foul-smelling liquid partially becomes a gas (flash evaporation) and is expelled with a loud popping sound..In any event this area is crying out for soap and water in the first case and some coherent plan in the second case.
A final point: The best thing about Westmorland Street is Pat Ingoldsby!
Is there any truth in story that the inspiration for this idea came when waiting for the bill at the Bad Ass Café. As regards what the cars should look like? What about dustbins? The idea is farse (spelling intentional)! On a saner note – why can we not wash the quay walls once in a generation like other cities? On a last point does the photo on the home page remind anyone else of a priest? Or is it just me?
