Architectural Mistakes and Monstrosities (1 Viewer)

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jane

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This is a thread for talking about buildings that upset you.

I'm mainly pissed off by how older buildings are being used, and that no effort is being made to turn stuff into places that are not posh apartments (if they were well-built, then I wouldn't mind so much, but they're going to fall down and then the building will be REALLY ruined) or offices.

I get sad every time I go by the Gasworks on South Lotts Road in Ringsend. I love that structure, and it's now full of yuppies that don't know what they've got. They just like it 'cause it gives it a sort of 'downtown' feel or summat.

I'm also upset about the flour mills on Ringsend Road. They haven't started doing anything with it, but I think we can all agree that whatever they do with it is going to be SHIT.


But I'm most concerned about what's going to be done with the concentration of my favourite buildings in the city:

http://www.mglarc.com/projects/spencer.htm

The Wool Store is my very favourite, and it's all surrounded by hoardings now, and you can't see what they're doing to it and that upsets me. I don't mind buildings being changed around, but I just wish it weren't all in honour of an economic dream that's about to end. It's like the way when you're a kid, you don't really respect stuff like family heirlooms, and you grow up and you wish you'd kept everything in better nick because you want it to last.


HOWEVER, I really like what's been done with a few of the buildings in the IFSC. I like the interior of the Excise bar, the new Ely down there. I like the way they've incorporated and highlighted the older elements without making them seem twee.
 
I've been saying that since I returned from England in 1997. Haven't been right yet - even the dot-com bust seems to have been a temporary setback

Well, I don't think it's going to burst in the way we thought it would, but the fact is there are going to be huge swathes of deserted apartmentscapes and office buildings that no one can afford or that have rotted to the point where they're not habitable. The construction quality on these places is short-term and shit, so that where historic structures have been 'renovated', the buildings are actually completely ruined, not by their new function, but by the poor materials used to renovate them. They are being built with very specific functions in mind, too, and as the economic and social makeup of Ireland changes, they'll need different kinds of buildings, thus, we need more flexible architecture. For example, the Iona building on Shelbourne Rd: Iona has downsized and now there's this huge, half-vacant corporate HQ that they can't fill because there isn't anything else that can go there (they may have a tenant by now, but it was vacant for a while).

So I don't mean, 'oh, the bubble will burst and we'll all die', but the fact is, there will be dips and surges in ways there didn't used to be, but the kinds of buildings being put up and renovated don't have a flexible enough range of uses and spaces to remain relevant. There will be a lot of historic structures that will have to be knocked down in twenty years because the people who are 'renovating' them now haven't a fucking clue how to treat a building with a view toward long term use. It's not that people 'back then' were smarter, or that they had more of an appreciation (I mean, the Georgian buildings involved demolishing 700 years of buildings in a really short span of time, with no interest in conservation), it's that they had access to stuff like virgin wood that lasts longer and is stronger, they built with brick instead of shitty cinderblocks, the basic construction material for these kinds of structures was, if it was decent enough quality, more durable than what gets used now.

Anyway, the economic dream only exists for a small number of people anyway. So whether or not it will end doesn't matter for the majority, who haven't got much out of it.
 
Dublin is fucked this way, and the disease is spreading
I moved ti Leixlip. In the field near me is this mad thing


Its called "The Wonderful Barn" (!)
wonderful-barn.jpg


built in 1745 or something- one of the few in existence in the whole of europe
ireland_wonderful_barn.jpg


theres the main one and then little version at each corner of the enclosed area, like watchtowers
k_wonderfulbarn.jpg



Its like something out of the Lord of the Rings, we walk the dog up in the filed surrounding it


But , of course theyre planning to knock it all down to build housing estates


cunts
 
WHAT? THEY ARE KNOCKING THE WONDERFUL BARN?

I don't think they can do that, actually. I'm pretty sure it's got special status. I know it's on the WMF's most endangered list. They can build near it, but I don't think they can knock the fucker.

Fucking hell. There's such a great network of buildings put up by Speaker Connolly and his family, and they were so odd and interesting, and their buildings are so cool, that they should all have automatic special status. The Hellfire Club, the 18th-century work on Rathfarnham, Castletown House, the Wonderful Barn, etc etc -- some of the most interesting 18th-century buildings were Connolly-sponsored.

In some ways, though, he and his family did the exact same kind of damage within an 18th-century context that's being done now. Makes me wonder will people look back on the 21st century at the 'achievements' of twatfarms like Zoe Developments.

I've never been to the Wonderful Barn. I'd love to do a project on it with the kiddies. They'd be well into it.
 
You can walk around it but not get in near it. It's strange there are people living in one room of the main house , the rest seems to be in disrepair and there are no entry/get off my land signs everywhere

If you get permission to get inside the walls let me come along- i'll pretend to be a kiddie


The locals around my way are organising protests against the developement so we'll see what...develops
 
You can walk around it but not get in near it. It's strange there are people living in one room of the main house , the rest seems to be in disrepair and there are no entry/get off my land signs everywhere

If you get permission to get inside the walls let me come along- i'll pretend to be a kiddie


The locals around my way are organising protests against the developement so we'll see what...develops

Dude, if we get this thing up and running and we did end up doing a WB thingum, you can totally come along. We can always use more grown-up volunteers.

Do you know who actually owns it, or is it in State care or whatnot? Wouldn't be til spring anyway, and it's just an idea. We did a project with a bunch of nippers on the Hellfire Club and that went brilliantly. I'd love to do a follow-up on something else in the same milieu. It's also a useful building because I'd love to get kids' take on the fact that it was a famine relief project.
 
Since a short while ago proposals for new buildings require that you include information on how the building would be demolished and disposed of. Pretty mad concept, but it seems sensible considering that a huge proportion of the energy a building will consume over its lifetime is used up in its demolition.

Buildings which upset me:

Butt Bridge - horrible and there's no need for it to be there...look at the route of the track on a map, it's absurd.

Out in Crumlin (heading out of town on the right hand side, just past the ospickle) there's a round building which is part of the Ronald McDonald children's bla bla bla. It's the worst constructed building I have seen in the city. There is some wood on the facade which looks like it was specified from old pallets. It's an insult on every level. Why is it round for instance? I don't know who designed it or who built it, but they along with Ronald McDonald should be horsewhipped until their skin comes off.

The ubiquitous Shit Apartment Building in your neighbourhood. Fuck off to the contractor, architect and client who couldn't be arsed how their city looks or how they are compelling people to live...eg no sound insulation, leaky windows, bad management companies, etc etc.
 
Sounds great!

I dont know who or what is actually going on with it- theres a real unfriendly air about it, all those signs etc

I must head along to the next meeting- I didnt go to the last one cos I'm just a blow-in and thought it'd be like something out of Little Britain

Thats great you're actually doing something constructive

(cant help but make architectural puns this morning..i apologise)
 
Sounds great!

I dont know who or what is actually going on with it- theres a real unfriendly air about it, all those signs etc

I must head along to the next meeting- I didnt go to the last one cos I'm just a blow-in and thought it'd be like something out of Little Britain

Thats great you're actually doing something constructive

(cant help but make architectural puns this morning..i apologise)

It's always such a bummer when communities are cut off from places that could be nice focal points.

In a sick way, it's the craftiest way to get to a point where you can demolish such a nice structure. First you cut people off from it, and eventually it slips from their conceptualisation of 'place', and once that happens, once people have resigned themselves to not being able to access it, they might miss it visually once it's gone, but it had long-since ceased to be part of the social landscape.

I think cutting people off - whether it's a heritage body or a developer who 'incorporates' a pretty thing into their shit housing estate -- from these places is just as big a bummer as demolishing them. Conservation is a delicate business.

It's one of the issues we dealt with in relation to the Hellfire Club. Good conservation, I think, allows for wear and tear because keeping a place or space relevant, and allowing people to reinvent their own meanings for them, is a more holistic, sustainable and long-term form of conservation (because while intervention will still be needed, you'll need less of it, and it is maintenance rather than 'renovation'). We were nominated for a Heritage Award for the project and gave a talk on it at the British Festival of Science in September, but no one listens to us in Ireland.

Once you bolt a door shut and fence a place off, you've just given it a death mask, and in some ways, these very well-intentioned preservation efforts, by cutting the places off from the local communities, actually pave the way for developers to come in and continue compartmentalising landscapes in ways that suit them.

Anyway, that's part of the thing with our projects, increasing access to the understanding of heritage, so that it's not just the Celtic Tiger Yuppies wandering Powerscourt who feel the past has anythign to do with them, and acknowledging the 'non-professional' interpretations and meanings of places and spaces, kind of trying to democritise the landscape of the past because people aren't stupid and we don't own it any more than they do.
 
THIS TOWN IS FUCKIN' MANKY WITH PIECE'S OF CRAP.

I HATE WHAT THE ARSE-ATECHS ARE DOIN'. LIKE CRAZY.

I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN INTO THE RED BRICK AND GLASS BUISNESS. AND THE PRE-DIED BEIGE CONCRETE BUISNESS TOO. I'D BE LOADED.

I HAD A TEACHER WHO WOULD SAY THE FOLLOWING...

"THEY SHOULD BE SHOT WITH BALLS OF THEIR OWN SHITE"

NO QUUAANNNDO FOR THE PLANNING BOARD, THE BRAINLESS PISSBAGS



 
What's the yoke outside Dublin Castle? Bleh.

I was up in Aberdeen the weekend, one thing I liked about it is that it's architectually cohesive, seems most of the buildings, including housing estates etc are built from the same stone, granite I think. Even though it's a way smaller city than Dublin it makes it look "grander". Weather's shite though.
 
bolands mill is the best building in dublin.
BolandsMill2.jpg

BolandsMill1.jpg

attachment.php


looks like the wonka bar factory like.

That's what I'm talking about. I fucking absolutely adore that building, and I'm terrified that whatever is going to be done to it is going to be really upsetting. I wish they'd leave it as it is until people get a bit of sense. That building absolutely cannot be replaced.

They had an auction of all the scrap that was inside it. I wanted to go, but was reminded that for me to attend an auction of junk, scrap and odd architectural fittings would be like....well, just like it is. I'd lose the run of myself and end up taking home a metal girder, having convinced myself it was a logical purchase. It was wise to caution me against going, but I do wish I were in a position to go to auctions and buy cool stuff like that.
 
That's what I'm talking about. I fucking absolutely adore that building, and I'm terrified that whatever is going to be done to it is going to be really upsetting. I wish they'd leave it as it is until people get a bit of sense. That building absolutely cannot be replaced.

They had an auction of all the scrap that was inside it. I wanted to go, but was reminded that for me to attend an auction of junk, scrap and odd architectural fittings would be like....well, just like it is. I'd lose the run of myself and end up taking home a metal girder, having convinced myself it was a logical purchase. It was wise to caution me against going, but I do wish I were in a position to go to auctions and buy cool stuff like that.
are they fucking serious?
http://www.bolandsmill.com/partner.php?name=wharf
 
I'm almost certain that Wonderful Barn is listed - surely they can't go near it? Maybe it's some kind of renovation\refitting project, if they're privately owned. I don't think there's any way they'd get planning to knock a landmark like that.

As for buildings in Dublin, what actually makes me angry\depressed moreso than the 60s and 70s relics are the missed opportunities of the last 7-8 years, we've had our biggest building boom in the history of the nation and the huge majority of what's been produced is sub-average, no frills, bottom-line type stuff, particularly with housing and commerical\office developments.. I was walking through Parnell St the other day and wondering how all of that bland new infill development is going to look in a couple of decades (that Jurys hotel on the corner with Moore St, plus the thing across the road from it, in particular, are shite).. pretty grim I'd say. In defence of architects, they can only produce what a client\developer allows them to produce. If they're not doing what the client wants they'll just drop them and call in somebody else with less scruples. There needs to be a higher baseline standard at the planning stage to ensure that developers have to care about producing decent architecture as well as something that'll just make them money, or else monetary incentives for producing quality buildings, or something.. On the same subject- we should do a thread about what buildings in Ireland do people here actually like, I'd be interested to know.
 
I'm almost certain that Wonderful Barn is listed - surely they can't go near it? Maybe it's some kind of renovation\refitting project, if they're privately owned. I don't think there's any way they'd get planning to knock a landmark like that.....

- we should do a thread about what buildings in Ireland do people here actually like, I'd be interested to know.


I think youre right- I think the objection might be about the planned development of the fields surrounding it..not sure.It'd be odd to have this crumbling landmark smack in the middle of a housing estate.

As ot the thread about favourite buikldings. I'm prteyy sure there is one if you do a search
 

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