New arthouse cinema (Pálás)

Arghus

Went again later night - to see You Were Never Really Here, bloody hell, what a movie! - and I'm still a bit taken aback by how unfinished the interior feels. There is just so much cold, hard and bare concrete everywhere and the layout of the place is an absolute maze, at least three times I met people on the stairs who were trying to figure out where the toilets were. Maybe in time I'll grow to love the somewhat maddening layout, maybe.

I don't buy into Feng Shui or any of that shite but sometimes maybe I think certain buildings give off particular vibes and I wonder does the Palas, as an entity, resent being transformed from a chronically unfinished site into a working cinema after all this time and as a result, no matter what, it'll always remain a bit user unfriendly and difficult.

Once again though gotta say that the presentation of the movie was top notch. The sound, particularly the score, was a vitally important part of the film that I went to see and it was fairly boomed out of the sound system, so they have definitely got that side of things well taken care of.

what_traffic

https://www.dezeen.com/2015/09/07/cast-concrete-galway-picture-palace-depaor-architects-georgian-terrace-ireland/

The plans at the end of the article show how building is layed out.

Pen Rua

what_traffic wrote: »

https://www.dezeen.com/2015/09/07/cast-concrete-galway-picture-palace-depaor-architects-georgian-terrace-ireland/

The plans at the end of the article show how building is layed out.

"The interior fit-out is not scheduled for completion until Spring 2016"

LOL.

smurf492

Hi folks... Trying to book tickets online and my email address is not being accepted... Anyone experiencing this problem... Thanks

flazio

smurf492 wrote: »

Hi folks... Trying to book tickets online and my email address is not being accepted... Anyone experiencing this problem... Thanks

Common problem, especially when using a phone or tablet is when you finish typing or autofilling an email address is a space is added at the end which some programs reject as an invalid email address as there are no spaces in email addresses. Check that the cursor is right at the end of the email address, no spaces.

dinneenp

Invisible they want to discourage phone bookings..... €2 fee per phone booking.

Going tonight to see twnrthere, curious to see the building interior. Seems ideal for some abstract photos.

tototoe

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/cinema-appalling-waste-of-funds-says-pac-468887.html

Asked how much the owners of the project pay in rent to the department, she said due to the creative focus of the cinema the current price is just €1 a year for the next 25 years.

dinneenp

I've added some photos (exterior & abstract interior) I took here- http://abstractabstract.com/palas-cinema-galway/

thesandeman

Dogs were allowed in to watch Isle Of Dogs today. Interesting concept.

TerrorFirmer

tototoe wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/cinema-appalling-waste-of-funds-says-pac-468887.html

Asked how much the owners of the project pay in rent to the department, she said due to the creative focus of the cinema the current price is just €1 a year for the next 25 years.

That's a photo of the (or an) IMC in that article, right? Not the interior of Palas?

Laviski

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That's a photo of the (or an) IMC in that article, right? Not the interior of Palas?

since when was IMC that clean?
seats are a dead giveaway....

nuac

tototoe wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/cinema-appalling-waste-of-funds-says-pac-468887.html

Asked how much the owners of the project pay in rent to the department, she said due to the creative focus of the cinema the current price is just €1 a year for the next 25 years.

Isn't that a tad expensive for "creative focus"?

cooperguy

nuac wrote: »

Isn't that a tad expensive for "creative focus"?

Absolutely!

tototoe

nuac wrote: »

Isn't that a tad expensive for "creative focus"?

Someone is laughing all the way to the bank.

Don't forget, they stumped up 1 million to fund the completion of the building

fergiesfolly

I was watching Room to Improve on Sunday night and Dermot Bannon took his clients to the newly refurbished Stella Cinema in Dublin.
A beautifully restored art deco theater( 200ish seats) with cocktail bar and restaurant.
I believe the cost was about €10million, but it looks amazing.
It suddenly struck me, what an awful eyesore of an ugly, cold, lifeless lump of comcrete we've been lumbered with, when it could have been so much better.

Thargor

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I was watching Room to Improve on Sunday night and Dermot Bannon took his clients to the newly refurbished Stella Cinema in Dublin.
A beautifully restored art deco theater( 200ish seats) with cocktail bar and restaurant.
I believe the cost was about €10million, but it looks amazing.
It suddenly struck me, what an awful eyesore of an ugly, cold, lifeless lump of comcrete we've been lumbered with, when it could have been so much better.

My thoughts exactly watching it, didnt realise the Stella was so nice inside.

nuac

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I was watching Room to Improve on Sunday night and Dermot Bannon took his clients to the newly refurbished Stella Cinema in Dublin.
A beautifully restored art deco theater( 200ish seats) with cocktail bar and restaurant.
I believe the cost was about €10million, but it looks amazing.
It suddenly struck me, what an awful eyesore of an ugly, cold, lifeless lump of comcrete we've been lumbered with, when it could have been so much better.

Yes, I recall being in the Stella way back. Lovely place.

Maybe this new place at Galway docks will grow on us, or perhaps some ivy will grow over it. Art for the sake of art and all that, but there is a limit

I could think of many better ways of spending nine million euro.

Nettle Soup

Thargor wrote: »

My thoughts exactly watching it, didnt realise the Stella was so nice inside.

Stella was an absolute dump in the 1990s and I am amazed it survived. What they have done with it is genius. It looked very 1930s style and comfy.

I walked around Palas at weekend. I did not get a good vibe from it. Weirdly laid out and all that concrete. The staff did seem very eager and helpful. I will try a movie there soon.

what_traffic

fergiesfolly wrote: »

It suddenly struck me, what an awful eyesore of an ugly, cold, lifeless lump of comcrete we've been lumbered with, when it could have been so much better.

How has this not been obvious to you for years now? Or are you just talking about the interior. The exterior of the building has been visible for years now so don't get why it would only strike one now that Palas all of a sudden is using elements of the Brutalisim School of Architecture?

fergiesfolly

what_traffic wrote: »

How has this not been obvious to you for years now? Or are you just talking about the interior. The exterior of the building has been visible for years now so don't get why it would only strike one now that Palas all of a sudden is using elements of the Brutalisim School of Architecture?

I honestly thought that there was going to be something added to the external walls;ie cladding of some sort etc to finish off the design. I never paid any attention to it while it was being built, nor seen any plans to warn me how horrendous it was going to be.

what_traffic

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I honestly thought that there was going to be something added to the external walls;ie cladding of some sort etc to finish off the design. I never paid any attention to it while it was being built, nor seen any plans to warn me how horrendous it was going to be.

If you never paid much attention to the build or plans then I dont see how you could have been prepared or warned in advance how it was going to affect you so?

Some of the orginal photomontage had the building painted in white, but the structure itself has not changed from those original proposals issued to the public via the local and national media prior to Construction. Probably best that there is no cladding post Grenfell.

Arghus

I also just naively assumed that they were going to do something more with the exterior, surely they can't just leave it like that, I thought.

I know, I know. I feel a deep and abundant shame at my own ignorance: how will I live with it?

fergiesfolly

Arghus wrote: »

I also just naively assumed that they were going to do something more with the exterior, surely they can't just leave it like that, I thought.

I know, I know. I feel a deep and abundant shame at my own ignorance: how will I live with it?

You and me both Arghus. We should just go live in deep dark forest and try to come to terms with our architectural ignorance.

fergiesfolly

what_traffic wrote: »

If you never paid much attention to the build or plans then I dont see how you could have been prepared or warned in advance how it was going to affect you so?

Some of the orginal photomontage had the building painted in white, but the structure itself has not changed from those original proposals issued to the public via the local and national media prior to Construction. Probably best that there is no cladding post Grenfell.

It's probably the fact it took so long to build and every time I drove/walked by it was a building site, so it just sort of disappeared from view. It was just there in the background, a big ugly block of nothing.
And when it opened, visually, it didn't seem much different from when it was a building site...a big ugly block of nothing.
Having gotten used to aesthetically poor design in this city over the years, it was just another eyesore to ignore.
The Stella Cinema really hit home how poor it is, how good it could have been and how we've pretty much we've come to accept this sort of building.

nuac

Look lads, it may be ugly but it is for art, so just suck it up ( as young people say these days )

westgolf

fergiesfolly wrote: »

It's probably the fact it took so long to build and every time I drove/walked by it was a building site, so it just sort of disappeared from view. It was just there in the background, a big ugly block of nothing.
And when it opened, visually, it didn't seem much different from when it was a building site...a big ugly block of nothing.
Having gotten used to aesthetically poor design in this city over the years, it was just another eyesore to ignore.
The Stella Cinema really hit home how poor it is, how good it could have been and how we've pretty much we've come to accept this sort of building.

It's such a lump of concrete from the docks approach route that you forget that's the back of the building and the entrance is through that house that they ended up rebuilding n reinforcing.

what_traffic

fergiesfolly wrote: »

It's probably the fact it took so long to build and every time I drove/walked by it was a building site, so it just sort of disappeared from view. It was just there in the background, a big ugly block of nothing.
And when it opened, visually, it didn't seem much different from when it was a building site...a big ugly block of nothing.
Having gotten used to aesthetically poor design in this city over the years, it was just another eyesore to ignore.
The Stella Cinema really hit home how poor it is, how good it could have been and how we've pretty much we've come to accept this sort of building.

After reading this I am even more baffled by your commentl "It suddenly struck me"?
It not for everybodys taste - but it does not stick out like a rotten tooth on the Galway Skyline. It is not very noticable on approach from Dock Road, only when approaching from Flood St on the River Side of the road (this is on foot as road is one way) would you be aware of it. Jurys Inn Hotel is a far uglier building in my book, especially when viewed from the Wolfe Tone bridge or the Claddagh.

fergiesfolly

what_traffic wrote: »

After reading this I am even more baffled by your commentl "It suddenly struck me"?
It not for everybodys taste - but it does not stick out like a rotten tooth on the Galway Skyline. It is not very noticable on approach from Dock Road, only when approaching from Flood St on the River Side of the road would you be aware of it. Jurys Inn Hotel is a far uglier building in my book, especially when viewed from the Wolfe Tone bridge or the Claddagh.

You really are labouring the point now.

"It suddenly struck me" was in context to the TV programme featuring The Stella Cinema, not the the Pallas Cinema itself. The contrast between the two is what struck me.


And it's pig ugly
Ask 100 people and 95 would agree with me.

Raging_Ninja

If you think the building is a marvel of modern architecture you really need your eyes checked. The thing is a concrete monstrosity straight out of some old Soviet dystopia.