macm

well would nt it be lovely to be back in good old wood work room!!

There’s loads of choice out there with regards builidngs which you could do a study of, i’d recommend you look at something which is free standing, ie. not like the GPO on O Connell Street in Dublin which has buildings attached to its rear. For example the Casino at Marino which is set in the landscape.

I remember a class mate of mine did a local church of interest in Cork when I was back in school, but this was set in the town and the immediate context of the surronding buildings complicated the project.

Rather than ream off a list of buildings for you to think about, i think you should start on your own doorstep, where ever that may be and give at look at the historic buildings in your area (or in the closet city) which in your opinion are the ‘nicest’ .
This way it will be a lot easier to visit the building to photograph, sketch and take details of it and also if you like something it will be easier to do it justice with your model.

Depending on the building you pick , you could be lucky with places like the Architectural Archive in Merrion Square, Dublin which might hold the orginial drawings of the building. They for example have much of the work of the architect Francis Johnston in archive, however don’t be put off by the lack of survey drawings, a keen eye and good observations will solve this problem.

Give me a shout when you pick a building and i ll see if i’ve any advice or information on it.

There’s also a great book i think you should buy, its only around 30 euro and would help you a lot with the research bit of the document you have to submit. Its called – Form, Space and Order by Franci D. K Ching. you ll buy it over the internet easily at Amazon books etc.

and another

not forgetting the fine theses from bolton street!!!

STUDENT AWARDS

Commended

Brighdin Ni Mhaille, DIT

We wish to commend the Cork Film Centre project by Brighdin Ni Mhaille for its urban regeneration intent and specific site response.

Commended

Siobhan Murphy, DIT

We commend Siobhan Murphy for her masterplan strategy for Holy Cross College, Drumcondra, Dublin, which gives a focus and future direction for an institution, while allowing for evolution and change over time.

Commended

Geoff Brouder, DIT

We commend the Centre for Film & Drama for UCD by Geoff Brouder for its approach to place-making on a section of campus where no shape or place presently exists.

Highly-Commended

Lorna Browne, DIT

We highly-commend Lorna Browne for her project in the north inner city called ”Diversity — a Multi-Cultural Market & Meeting Place. Her research, analysis and thesis proposals address the new Ireland of cultural diversity and urban renewal in a quality culturally-sensitive and site-specific way.

Award Winner

Gemma Ginty, DIT

We make the Opus Student Award to “Continuum — a Crematorium on the Threshold”, by Gemma Ginty. This is a powerful and imaginative thesis, thoroughly researched both in terms of the ritual of death and the architectural expression of loss in time and place. The flow of space, the ingress of light and the visual link to a renewing landscape are handled with rare skilled and humanity.

If your thinking of a new build & are not in the field of architecture i recommend you go out and buy THE CORK RURAL HOUSE DESIGN GUIDE published by cork county council. Basically it’s a rule book for sensitive design in a rural context. The rules apply to contemporary as well as to the vernacular style of building.

First off, let’s start with Eddie Hobbs! As a fella Cork man I’m embarrassed to say he hails from the same county as me! Surely any social commentator needs to give a balanced view to a debate. Eddie is a smart boy, preaching to the masses in a language which the majority will understand, ie. the language of a child (while lining his pockets at the same time). I like many others on different forums find his talking down/dumbing down of these issues to be quiet offensive. Let’s take his second show on RTE for example; here Eddie presented to us, the public, with the break down on the price of a pint of stout. For all of us ‘stupid viewers’ out there Eddie used three parties involved in the price of a pint: the Brewer, the Government and the fat cat Publican.

His breakdown was similar to this, take the average price of a pint at €3.42, give €1.06 to the Government in taxes, €0.85 to the brewer and who gets the remaining €1.51, you’ve guessed it – the publican. In your best Cork accent now folks ‘That’s an astounding €1.51 profit for the public’.

Well Eddie, fair play no lies there, just one minor omission, this €1.51 is GROSS profit, and unlike Eddie I’m going to be brave and acknowledge that the majority of people out their will recognise the difference between GROSS and NET profit. Rates, insurance, heating, electricity, staff, maintenance, mortgages etc. take a nice little cut out of your €1.51 PROFIT! But I’m sure any mildly intelligent person with even the slightest bit of Junior Cert Business Studies would realise that!

So there’s my rant about Eddie, the man with the business acumen of a duck!

Now from reading the above you probably realise I have a little vested interest in the Irish pub, spot on, I grew up in one. The typical rural public house, pub downstairs, 3 beds upstairs. The local population of 1200 have for many years, been served by three locals, all with their equal share of the business, each also sharing their ups & downs over the years. PDLL’s view of modern rural Ireland, where have you been man? Rural Ireland isn’t what it was 50 years ago. Our clientele, as I’m sure the majority of locals dotted around the country, is made up of a broad section of modern Ireland, farmers, businesswomen & men, tradesmen, even the odd detective, and one retired gent of 85 who has 2 pints of Murphy’s every night!! Conversation ranges from current affairs to the match at the weekend or the wedding last weekend. The GAA boys will come down after training, and couples will drop in after coming home from a performance in the theatre. A pint is €3.20 and a pint of Coke is €2.00. Prices like this are on a par throughout rural Ireland, save a few pence more in tourist areas.

The situation with the closing down of rural pubs has been coming with years, unless inherited the rural pub is not a viable investment, therefore if no one in the family (as most rural pubs are) decides to take over the pub, the license will be sold to a city/large town. What is happening needs to happen, the pendulum needs to swing to balance the spread off licenses in the country. 10 pubs in a small Irish village is not good for any party involved, either the punter or the publican. In my honest opinion there is enough licenses to sell alcohol in this country, the problem is that there distribution is all too random. What is happening now will hopefully redress this situation.

P.S: I’ve lived in Dublin for the last number of years, I can get a pint in Temple Bar for €3.00 from the time the pub opens until it closes, and if I want, I can go three minutes up the street and pay €5.05 for a pint in the sin jin.

P.P.S: I just had a coffee there in Costa (coastalot) in Douglas, €2.75 for a medium Americano, reading the property section of the indo while having a smoke in their outdoor seating area. The paper blew away in the gale!!!! Café culture my ass!!!!

will post up picture of the mallow/dariygold venture tomorrow. pretty impressive from images on front of echo on tuesday nite.