pier39

@lexington wrote:

that victoria cross student accommodation thing is vile! and is that suppose to be teak? please! :rolleyes: ccc havent done a good job supporting strong design concepts on this stretch of road. its plans like these that make it harder for better lookin and more decent designs to pass planning like the one further up the road, the 7 floor apartment complex posted somewhere earlier on this thread. clearly the architects were tripping to legoland when they designed this.

its a pity tom mccarthys plan across the road, which was probably the best looking student proposal for the area, never went ahead.

why are mommy and daddy fighting??? whoa…sorry bout that, my supressed childhood keeps popping up now and again at the hint of conflict! hehehe. peace people.

anyway jungle, i suppose you gotta think hypothetical: if you had 50 euros and 2 choices to buy a house (yeah right! thatll be the day!) both identical, both with the exact same services blah blah blah – one in classytown, one in notasclassybutstillnice town – where would you buy?

same principle with office developments, aprtments etc. i do think its becoming less important though as the scale of some individual developments literally carve their own address and redefine and area based on that – i.e. mahon point. however their will always be a sort of prestige for example have an office in a place like, say the cork docklands over say ringaskiddy! 🙂 its a status thing in that respect i suppose and developers etc can cash in on that – so be it. its the way of the market. if people are willing to buy gucci over penneys, gucci aint gonna move their prices as long as there is a sufficient market. but as i say i do sense its becoming slightly less important, at least in cork anyway and with the exception of the docklands/city centre which will always have a sort of status over other locations.

hmmmmuh very inktresting!

i’ve no doubt the ladyswell plan will add to the place. i always tawt were it not for the nice like canopy additions and variations in colouring and finishes the design could have been quite boring and boxy, however never saw the recreational space graphics before and i have to say it looks very well, like the little water feature. what will be a telling sign will be if frinailla actually show real ingenuity and cover the repaving of the roadway and pathways a la the 1st 2 pics above. i think it will help their scheme on a whole, make the corporation smile and shut the mouths of a few critics in the area while their at it. look forward to seeing if the presentation pics match the flesh in that sense. the watercourse road could do with a little imagination and input, hope frinailla seize the opportunity. still, good job lads.

anyone got pics of how that stretch of road is now? would be a really interesting comprative and highlight just how much the ladyswell blocks would add.

@lexington wrote:

😀 Pitwood Limited have been granted permission for a new hotel development at Beasley Street and Parnell Place, subject to 18 conditions. The original plan called for the development of a 5-storey, 121 bedroom hotel over spa and double-deck basement car-park – however, a number of concerns were raised by the Planning Dept.in response to the application. Among them issues of height, relation to the former Provincial Bank (now TCH HQ), traffic management, ground floor usage at Parnell Place and design quality. Concerns were also issued on how the protected structures of No.17 & 18 Parnell Place (facades) were to be incoporated into the new development. A substantial redesign was requested through Significant Further Information – which, when received was considered adequate. The revised plans, submitted in July, will now host 116 bedrooms over 4 and 5 floors. The resulting design will given Cork something of a limestone “Guggenheim Museum” inspired (???) elevation at Beasley Street and South Mall, which is, I must say both unusual and impressive.

The 0.18 hectare site is owned by Corbett Bros., Pitwood Limited’s backers are involved with other hotel ventures in Ireland – including Setanta House Hotel and Carton House in Kildare – and are based in Monaghan.

James Leahy & Associates were involved in the project with Niall Fitzsimons Ltd acting as Consulting Engineers.

The image below offers a perspective looking down Beasley Street from South Mall – this western elevation forms the rear of the hotel with access to the basement car-park. The eastern/Parnell Place elevation is formed by the No.17 & 18 protected facades. This elevation is a unique and unusual mix of angles and shapes cladding with varying sizes and colourations of limestone.

holy testicle tuesday! almost missed this one!!! saw the original plans on one of me rare trips down to the planning office and cant say it did the biz for mise but the revised plan looks pretty wow! very impressed – pity the image isnt any clearer, lex when you get those improvements will ya please post up a pic a little clearer? thanks mate 😉 – either way the facade looks pretty good on beasly st elevation. i see james leahy is making a bit of a niche for his firm with this style of design – i think it suits them – their camden qy design seems like to be prep for this with its curved canopies and strange shapes. the parnell hotel plan here seems to have abandoned the trad 90degree idea in exchange for varying angular aspects. the use of variations in the limestone claddings color and size adds to the inconsistent effect and the support column at the ground floor of 93 south mall almost seems gehry-esque – position at a 70degree angle(?) rather than boring old 90. ooooo im all excited! keep these kinda ideas up jimmy! tis mighty and will do the city no harm to have a bit of ooo lala! 😀

by the way got this great email the other day called “auctioneer lexicon revealed” and thought i might share some of the hidden meanings our good friends in the estate agents offices seem to use in their daily lingo.

cosy = small, cramped, ceiling a foot lower than the average human height.
handyman’s dream = at least 2 of its walls are still standing
rustic = see above
ideal first step on the property ladder or starter home = young people are so gullible
up and coming area = border up your windows with reinforced steel
within a stone’s throw… = using a catapult and a jet-pack
partially renovated = brand new 40w bulb in the kitchen
sought after = blank cheques only
easy access = new flyover being constructed directly over the house

i thought it was funny! and before anyone gets offended it came from an auctioneer so relax! hehe 🙂

your profile says occupation = student. i had that job once too and man was i damn good at it. i was diligent about it – up every morning at 12pm, in for a nice additional sleep at my lecture at around 1pm (usually about an hour), then skipped the rest of the lectures to go drinking til about 3am where id end up back in bed with some girl called rodney…too bad i got fired into a real job! i was voted most likely to become a politician!….now what do i do, i design things! oooo! big whoop! hehe.

come to cyberville MORE often??? god thats a scary thought! he seems to practically have a tent set up on his modem. no disrespek bruv! peace out! but seriously tis a mighty good thing, i come here more often than i read the paper (cos usually and no offence to the good people at the irish times, indo and stuff) this is more fun!

im really looking forward to horgans qy. i hear omp have got a hand in that one, or am i wrong? castlelands construction seem to be planning something big and im freakin out waiting to hear what theyve lined up. ooo the anticipation. lex any input??? (ignoring my above comments 😉 )

….at least she told me her name was rodney!!!!

@dave123 wrote:

😀 A-ha , Midleton another city within cork……. 😮
That is a load of baloney….
It has a population less than 10,000 (including boundaries environs)
And anyway Mallow is bigger , its so stupid to think Midelton is a city, 😮

A Population centre of at least 30,000 is recogised as a City in Ireland , In European standards itrs 50,000 minimum 🙂

Anyway just wanted to get that straight. 😀
As for Cork city- I think the boundary extenion should go ahead , it has more reasons and less inhibitation than to go against it ,

hey stupid is a strong word…sure we all make mistakes, but i still tell my son i love him. 😀

midelton aint no city but if it keeps goin the way it is…in a coupla years, who knows??? anyway, ballincollig is bigger than either mallow or midelton with a projected pop. of 40000 for 2010 (or 2018 cant remember which!) but then again like glanmire i kinda consider ballincollig as a suburb anyway at this stage. midelton to cork is kinda like what bray is to dublin.

great news bout paul kennys building. looks great! well done to the lads over at wilson. lets just hope it becomes a reality.

im gettin all tingly and its not just because ive been sitting on my leg for half the day its cos a bud of mine with a certain practice has been quietly telling me the sca on a certain project involving a certain crown from malla! dunno how advanced it tis but i’ll be lookin forward to it. anyway im off to do whatever it is i do. bye!

good for the glucksman! the plan should be to get the city’s name up into those nominations more often!

im not as technically apt as some of the feckin whizzs on here so my pic above aint great but i cant say this is a pretty creature. this is the oyster developments office building for dean st on the old obrien premises right??? look at the chimney (my skills in full show as i highlight it with a circle), its totally dominated by the new block. and whats with all the brick? faceless. dont know about this. even after consultations when my yang-yang spirtual guide thing and all that, im finding it hard to give it my love. is it too plain or something? the chimney seems lost, like its trying to scrap or climb up the side of the wall of the new building to get some sunshine. arent there some houses just to the south of this? and a adult shop…not that i know anything about that…or have a tab with the place. 😀 hey its natural to be curious anyway! i know a few of the houses and the adult store have been the subject of some big buys lately. could it be oyster on a spree again with some further intentions? or someone else? anyone?

also may i just add in the spirit of all this german that ich hatte eine sehr gestörte kindheit und ich versuche noch, über ihr zu erhalten, followed by my deepest arnold schwarzenegger laugh – ha – ha – ha.! 😉

blackpool seems to be coming on no end. i think it was lisam was saying that the retail park there is far better than the one at mahon pt given all the hype and i have to agree. its a nice change. the leisure centre should just add to it all.

anyone hear about any activity along kennedys qy with iaws???

this place seems a little quiet these days…almost eerie! oooo!

hey radioactiveman sweet pics there on sundays well. hear frinilla have oriordan staheli working on a nice housing project there.

ill probably be a lone voice here but i actually like 21 lavitts qy. its impact to the rear a far less significant that the impact the new howard holdings hotel will have. the nice thing about paul street and its tributary lanes is that the seem to be pleasantly isolated in their own timewarped microcosm and i think thats part of their appeal.

it is a pity howard didnt just move onto a different practice, not that ive anything against rorsa but clearly effort was lacking from the no16 design. imagination could have immensely enhanced this site and quayside. i suppose it was a matter of taking advantage of rorsa site knowledge and getting an application in there fast. i fear this building will be another one of those designs people will throw their eyes to heaven each time they pass it in coming years. i dont think 21 lavitts qy beckons the same. its actually quite a clever well finished building and seems to embrace a variety of scales, curvatures and materials which given a bit of variety to what could quite easily have been another bland office building. paddy cashman and clan did a good job. the blandness of the elevations at no16, which tries to embrace a seemingly 1930s-esque deco style using those odd windows, is disappointing. at the very least, greater care to elevational treatements and their vertices could have been afforded with very little cost differentials. pity. but then again maybe we’ll all be fooled on its completion and itll surprise us all.

i personally am aware of proposed designs for phase 3 of the opera house redevelopment with a private developer on board and in fairness, the plans are showing promise and imagination. hopefully the entire quay front will allow for some powerful statements come the next few years. also i hear a private developer is chatting with joe gavin et al about kyrls quay – ooo!