GrahamH

Without question it is the lack of a rear exit at the west end that is most infuriating. It’s nothing short of bizarre that you pass by acres of Dunnes Stores frontage on Mercer Street, walking the entire way around the store before finally entering the centre at the side, especially if you want to avail of that particular outlet: completing a near 360 degree round trip. And this in the face of their Head Office directly across the road too.

Now that the whole George’s Street area is a bustling commercial location, it’s high time this market was served with a new rear entrance. If it means dividing the Dunnes unit in two, so be it. Times have changed since the doldrums of the 1980s.

I’d agree with you regarding the stuck-on panes getting irritating the more you look at them 🙂 – effective perhaps for an hotel or similar, but in an intimate domestic setting they’re perhaps overly obvious. This is possibly how Wynns as a protected building got away with it – a city centre hotel with all the attendant urban noise intruding on guest bedrooms could have been looked at with an element of sympathy by planners. And the sashes were ‘only’ 80 years old, and probably had modern glass.

Given how relatively new this product is to the market, I’ve no idea how planners view its use in protected structures, cobalt – others would be better placed to answer. If I was in your position, I’d probably go out of my way to retain as much of the original frames and glass as possible, but failing that, reproduction sashes with high performance single glazing is definitely the best option in fulfilling both aesthetic and most insulation requirements. No idea as to cost for such glass.

But again the old chestnut raises its head – what exactly is ‘energy efficient’? That is, if you don’t have room-by-rrom themostatically controlled heating, having doubling glazing isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference either to your consumption of energy or your fuel bills. If your heating is turned on and left on as it is in most people’s homes without constantly sampling room temperature and turning off accordingly, double glazing, and indeed arguably any insultation, is as good as redundant insofar as fuel consumption is concerned.

Not that this should in any way be used as an excuse in older buildings – as every building should have room thermostats – but it’s also a simple reality that most properties do not. And even if you do, well heating is generally put on in the evening, when shutters are closed and curtains are drawn. The generally modest sash window is by no means the elephant in the room as far as insulation is concerned, unlike walls and ceilings, and they even feature shutters unlike expansive 70s picture windows.
Just some points to consider…

Secondary internal glazing is also an option, and can work well in some cases. But generally I’ve yet to see a good example for Georgian or Victorian sashes (casements adopt it much better). With the former, it also tends to ruin the architecture of the internal sash and shutter ensemble 🙁

Absolutely archipimp, and it’s great to see DCC are on the ball in this respect: “The applicant should be advised to note that in a development of this scale it is reasonable that the majority of all new housing shall be family friendly. In this regard the applicant is requested to justify the following: (i) The unacceptably high proportion of one-bed units at 31%. (ii) That just 15% of the overall housing provision is three bedrooms or more. The Planning Authority is of the opinion that it is unreasonable that the proportion of units with just two bedrooms or less constitute over 85% of such a large-scale housing development.”

It continues in requesting an amenity value assement of each apartment, and even addresses the entrance area in no diplomatic terms: “The applicant is requested to clarify and justify the location and size of the primary proposed entrance to the residential units. The proposed 3m wide and extensively long corridor residential entrance to Block B is unsuitable for a primary residential access. The applicant is advised to note that an important component in identifying successful urban apartment living – and a critical component in the quality of life of those who live there – is the generosity, and imagination of residential entrances. The proposed development, in this regard, manifestly fails to demonstrate that imagination or generosity. The lobby entrance to the proposed units require significant improvement in terms of their, scale, design and relationship to the street.”

An unequivocally hard line being taken there. I imagine this concern for living accomodation is prevalent with all proposed developments of late.

One slight concern with this space and the development that lines it is the potential for it to feel like a ‘novelty area’, detached from the grid pattern around it, with the walkways and mutli-faceted buildings lending it a temporary, almost gimmicky air rather than that of a solid urban space. Not that this difference doesn’t have its virtues, but it would be a shame for the visitor to feel completely lost in this ‘lifestyle experience’ in what is currently a coherent area. The combination of the GPO elevation and the remounted facade of Arnotts however should blend the area into the city quite effectively.

Indeed I’d be interested to know who will own this space upon completion: will DCC or Arnotts maintain the streetscape and walkways? And will this be a semi-private space with security gaurds and photography protection squad?

Very curious development taking place last week on Henry Street, Dr Quirkey-style:

Presumably the entire facade is now covered. This for the planners? If so it’s clearly being given active consideration.

Also the lovely simple Christmas lights on the original building were lit for the first time in years, all the bulbs newly replaced 🙂

Indeed looking at the above photo, you can really imagine how impressive the orginal facade concept would have been if executed, stretching way into the distance with its two giant towers piercing the skyline.

One odd feature of the current application is the express statement that the current domed centre of the store “will not be affected by this application”, accompanied by photographs of the space. And yet this part clearly overlaps the tower by a substantial degree:

Unless it’s going to go and they just haven’t proposed anything to replace it yet.
It’s a very odd experience walking through the vast hall at the moment buzzing with people – akin to the Grand Staircase on the Titanic, thinking little do they know that soon all of this is going to be under water 😀

Again in the above picture you can see the 1960s elevation to Henry Street is wider at the front almost to the depth of a small tower.

Did I read recently that there was a small fire in one of these buildings, resulting in the repro doorcase melting and having to be replaced?! 😀 😀

There was also a wonderful irony recently in the case of the above building, recently offices of IIB Bank. The bank recently sponsored Duncan Stewart’s ‘About the House’ programme, and hence had a life-size grinning cardboard cut out of him in their lobby, doing a thumbs up gesture or sumesuch though their reproduction front door.
Duncan Stewart of course was one of the most vociferous campaigners for the saving of the original townhouses.

Very sad news, and shocking – one could never imagine Sam as being less than larger than life and in full health. Only heard it on the radio this morning, ironically on the exact same programme as the very last time I heard him – booming in tandem with Tom McGurk in debate, waxing about Dublin’s development past and present. As far as I recall, he had come round to the opinion that all tall buildings ought to be centralised in the Docklands.

You can listen here to Frank McDonald on the radio this morning, as well as a clip of Sam recalling sleeping with Charles Haughey – twice 🙂

http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/230-2190644.smil (5.30)

He always came across as casual and rather tongue in cheek in his later media dealings – as if bemused that people would want to listen to what he had to say. And frankly he did have very little to say when in conversation – tended to ramble, ironically like Charlie. But he was surprisingly never exasperated about mindlessly repeated questions about all the sagas through the years – always willing to talk about them. There is no question that he had mellowed.

Just like the Central Bank, I think the Civic Offices have matured significantly since construction. Indeed one would have to question the extent to which the design of these buildings was ever despised – perhaps it was more their association with the destruction of the site than anything. Though their bombastic nature was admittedly not exactly a conciliatory gesture at the time…

If anything, the recent comparatively fussy STW addition (though decent) has only made the original blocks all the more sparse and elegant. They appear cool, crisp and confidently modern. And in spite of their enormously domineering nature, from a distance they are surprisingly humble structures. Being so isolated and detached, they’d remind you of a humble salt and pepper set 🙂

Stephenson’s less noted work is perhaps his most refined – the Dublin Institute building is an elegant solution for an awkward site:

There are many of these wine-bricked office buildings about the inner city, some better than others – presumably Sam’s firm was responsible for a number of them. Another discreet example would be the office opposing Connolly Station’s ramp – possibly by S.G&A too.

Whatever about his at times misguided ambition in the 1960s and 1970s, he made a significant contribution to the betterment of Irish architecture in the 20th century.
Both in terms of projects he was working on, and his wit and charm, he will be sorely missed.

Oh no – so near yet so far, and right at the City Hall junction 🙁
Surely they have tons of original granite in storage!

The bollards are fancy, but are they needed? I thought it was DCC policy, or should that be best practice, to limit the alterations, i.e incisions, to original paving? In all fairness, if you’re walking along the kerbline with that vast extent of paving to walk on, you deserve to be clipped by a bus.

I note your image is sideways Devin – I presume your tourist camera just happened to accidentally take a picture next to the workmen while ‘testing’ it? Funny that, mine does the exact same for some reason.

Impressed by the lighting, that is all PTB (in the context of another thread)

Couldn’t agree with you more regarding what is a disappointingly drab and dreary public space. It’s not quite finished yet, so there may yet be soft landscaping of a sort to go in, but admittedly it’s unlikely.
With the dull granite wall on one side, the Portland facade of City Hall on the other, and the grey slabs pasted down around your feet, it makes for a souless, harsh addition to the city. The seating’s execution in granite merely adds to the dullness of the landscape.
Trees such as weeping birch, particularly around the perimeter of the site would make a big difference.

The seating design is attractive though, if the metal stud detail uncomfortable for a number of sitters on any one side.