New civiv square to be built in the docklands, 'The Parlour'

Yixian

http://www.businessandleadership.com/life/news/article/14869/life/shipping-container-design-wins-dockland-competition

The winning submission in a competition to re-develop the Point Square as a new civic and public space for Dublin city was announced today.

LiD Architecture’s concept for the public space was chosen by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) on behalf of the competition promoters, Point Village Limited.

The central idea of LiD Architecture’s winning submission is to use shipping containers as cheap and basic building blocks that can be configured creatively to suit whatever event is being housed in the docklands space, which is known as ‘The Parlour’.

The Parlour will host a broad programme of music and outdoor events such as free rock, jazz and trad shows, as well as drama, monster céilís and dances, political rallies, and markets.

I was excited to hear about this as Dublin is in serious need of some large civic spaces. Then I saw the mockups:





That competition must have been sliiiiim pickings if this hunk of junk won >_>

To be fair I can see it earning a kind of grimey, underground charm if it's done right and used well, but that's only going to work with music etc. - markets? political rallies? They have got to be joking if either of those are going to be attracted to that thing.

Political rallies are held in areas that represent the wealth and power of a city eg. trafalgar square or the champs elysees. Not protesters are going to be interested in picketing that thing...

And in terms of markets, these two are generally better off in grand looking surroundings. What Dublin needs really is a larger version of the English Market in Cork, I can't imagine how grim it would look surrounded by a bunch of shipping containers :S Does that really capture the essence of a European market with all it's variety of tasty and alluring food? -_-

Still, better stick something in that space, and I'm sure this will go a little way to pulling the crowds towards the docklands when they open.

herya

Sponsored by Lego?

Kernel

Why is all the investment money in Dublin going into the docklands? Ah that's right, coz Bertie swung it.