Here's some pix that I took of the exhibition in the County Council offices on the Marine Road. The objective of the competition was to find a design solution for both building and site that:
* Displays innovative architecture
* Is contemporary in design
* Is sympathetic to its context
* Respects and contributes to the reinvigoration of Dun Laoghaire waterfront.
I think the view from the interior and the main hall would be amazing - quite like the main hall in the Tate Modern in London. The building is bulky, but it seems appropriate that public rather than private buildings should dominate Dún Laoghaire's skyline.
I'd like to see the Local Area Plan for Dún Laoghaire in place before projects of this scale go ahead, but I have no doubt that my colleague Cllr. Gene Feighery will be making that point. I'm pleased that the winning entry leaves open the option of retaining the Bowling Green on site, even though Andrew O'Connor's Christ the King Statue gets moved northwards. The new building would also be located just beside the Maritime Museum, creating a nice confluence of culture for the heart of Dún Laoghaire.
A modern Library is long overdue for the County, and I'm looking forward to a lively debate about the project.
3 comments:
My initial reaction is that it is very bulky, particlularly the orange block, and not sympathetic to its surroundings. I can't get the idea of two giant desktop computers side by side out of my mind. I'm not an architect myself but it does seem like a reversion to the concrete jungle days of the early 1970s.
The view from Sandycove is dominated by private residential terraces. I not sure why you would want to see Public buildings dominate these - maybe you could elaborate more on this. In any case such a preference may cause a bias in judging the design objectively, allowing bulky, bunker-like, dominating blocks be slotted into the shorefront.
Well Ciaran what do you think of it now...a fiasco . An aesthetic disaster?
Actually, I'm pretty pleased with the way things have turned out.
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