Lincoln
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Mill on Fr Matthew Quay development: “Jacobs “Mill
what a horror show-! surely this does not conform to the conditions of planning! I believe that Murray O Laoire Architects who prepared the planning permission for the mill have had no involvement in the construction of the hotel buildng and that there is effectively no professional guidance on the project other than the structural engineer! this is like the bad ol’ days when the architect was regarded as only good enough to get the planning and then is not required when you have to build it .
They should be injuncted and forced to build as per the planning conditions – this building is too important and prominent to let a developer get away with such shoddy treatment of our city fabric.
i had a look at the waterstreet file in CCC last week- the objections are your usual run of the mill- one of the submissions is a 5 page hymn of praise for the development ( a lot of which i would agree with- it is refreshing to see people putting in positive comments for a change)- the An Taisce submission was quite surprising- other than a reference to the “Sore Thumb” syndrome it was in support of the scheme in general (except some minor caveats) and even went so far as to say that the design is worthy of the docklands and will be a good demonstration of high density city living!
well,consisdering the CCC expressed importance of Docklands development and considering the great lenghts the applicant has gone through to accomodate the neighbours, andconsidering that broadly An Taisce are for it, how can CCC do anything other than grant this application? i will wait with bated breadth
thanks Lexington &Shaggy,-it seems to me that this WaterStreet development is just what Cork Docklands needs- it certainly sets a good precendent for any other developments, particularly for public access to the water, new public spaces in what is currently private property that currently cuts off access to the waters edge.(like so many sites in Docklands)
I sincerely hope that CCC see sense here and realise that support for this kind of development is a good thing-particulary when you realise how little public open space there is in Cork City.Lexington, thanks for the water street images , they look great-a slimmed down version of the original planning application last year.-i think what will make the difference here with respect to the general public is the quality of and access to the waterfront areas.- is there public access to the waters edge or is for the residents only?
graham/thomond park,
your debate seems to hinge around one basic point- should the city of dublin development happened outside the historic core(as in the Frankfurt example cited above, and many other examples in Europe, Paris, Amsterdam etc..) or in the city centre itself( London, Berlin)
my own view is that Dublin is too small to have two cores and i enjoy the fact that administrive, business , retail , social and most importantly residential life occurs in the city centre- Dublin is a vibrant living city because of this and i beieve that this is what is attractive to visitors rather than any grandeur.
in order to have this kind of town, then a lot of old stuff gets pulled down- and some of it regrettably- however most of it was dross and this makes the way for possibly better contemporary architecture.
however, a lot of what we are doing in replacing dross with dross- this has to be conceded, however, on balance, i think that the city has never looked better – it has a smile on its face rather than a frown
Thomond Park, there will always be poor planning decsions and poor examples of architecture to point out in any city in general , however , the visual environment in Dublin is greatly improved and is to be welcomed. you may say that no-one is saying that Dublin is a dump, however, that is not the case in general conversation and in parts of the media as outlined above by Boyler.
as for our lost georgian heritage , which was lost during the ruinious period of the 70s and 80s ( as outlined in Frank McDonalds book cited above) it is gone and gone forever. It is a great pity, however, we must not dwell on it, and we should focus on the rentention and approproate refurbishment of what is left.(which is quite substantial actually)
the georgian period architecture was the result of great wealth, confidence and the will of a few powerful men, who in creating a “modern ” capital a mile east from it’s medieval core transfomed the city . We are doing something similar now , but in a more modest and contextual manner as befits our pluralistic democracy and planning system based on equal rights of all citizens to object.
therefore, you may not like everything that is happening (or not happening)in Dublin , however, it is very positive in the most part.
this is an interesting thread- as someone who is a dubliner and left the country for economic reasons in the 80s(like so many of my generation) and then returned to my home town i have to say that it heartens me greatly that someone of Boyler’s generation says that he loves Dublin.
i don’t live in Dublin at the moment ,however, it gives me great joy to return to the city every other month or so and see how it is improving- the Luas, new bridges, new apartment buildings enabling people to live in the city, the HARP plan refurbishing O Connell Street , new bars, new restaurants and the people from all over the world thronging the busy and mostly pedestrianised streets-
There is a great deal of mispaced nostaglia for the Dublin pre- 60s- we hanker after the faded grandeur and forget the appalling sqaulor. The much maligned Ballymun Flats were built to house people who lived in appalling conditions in the former spendid georgian mansions we so fondly disremember-the glory age of Georgian Dublin ended in the Act of Union 1800- the city went into decline from then in terms of building fabric and wealth and it is only now that we are turning it around with (mostly) appropriate and sensitive architecture-
when i was 15 Dublin looked like a bombed out city andTemple Bar was one big dark area of dereliction that was dangerous to walk through at night-(it might still be regarded as dodgey today with all the stag parties and all but at least people are having fun!)
cities grow and change and it is good to see that Dublin has not been preserved in apsic, but has gone through a period of decline(as happens all over the world) to come out looking good, friendly and maybe even intersting.
the white deposit is efflourescence – it is a salt that appears when brickwork is newly laid and will eventually wash out over time- it is a natural process and should be gone in a year.
as for the general use of brickwork it has become an increasingly unpopular material choice due to the difficulty contractors have with brick and block layers -a lot of contractors now will not tender for jobs if there is a lot of brickwork-this building will be probably the last brick building you will see for the foreseeable future.
