An International Icon for Limerick

Mint Aero

Today's "clever" :rolleyes: April fools by RTE http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0401/691308-spire/ got me thinking.

If they did actually remove the Spire, I sincerely doubt "in my opinion, now mind" that anyone would miss it. I certainly wouldn't. It's about as loveable as a sterile needle can be. Enough time has passed for me to feel any affection towards it.

But should Limerick have an icon on a par with the Eiffel Tower for example? Or has it one in your opinion which I can't think of? Where would you situate a sculptural/engineering/architectural icon in the city?

Lets face it. The Dubs failed. We could do better I reckon. I'm also of the opinion that Limerick has the best potential of any city in Ireland for creating an iconic skyline, on par with that of New York.

Jofspring

Well Limerick City and Manhatten are designed the same way.

bazz26

Monorail!

Berty

What's that name?

Clareman

Thread title changed

zulutango

We've got plenty of icons as it is, but we just fail to recognise them as we're so familiar with them.

King John's Castle and St. Mary's Cathedral spring to mind.

Clareman

Personally I don't think "made" icons for cities ever work, thinking of the majority of international cities and their icon they almost all have a massive history and weren't set out to be icons.

Off the top of my head the list would be:

• New York - Statue of Liberty - Gift from France
• New York - Empire State Building - Office Building
• London - Big Ben - Parliment building
• London - Buckingham Castle - Castle
• Paris - Eifle Tower - Communications Array
• Sydney - Oprea House - Opera house
• Sydney - Harbour Bridge - Transport
• Rome - Collossum - Sports

Mr.H

Clareman wrote: »

Personally I don't think "made" icons for cities ever work, thinking of the majority of international cities and their icon they almost all have a massive history and weren't set out to be icons.

Off the top of my head the list would be:

• New York - Statue of Liberty - Gift from France
• New York - Empire State Building - Office Building
• London - Big Ben - Parliment building
• London - Buckingham Castle - Castle
• Paris - Eifle Tower - Communications Array
• Sydney - Oprea House - Opera house
• Sydney - Harbour Bridge - Transport
• Rome - Collossum - Sports

Technically the Colosseum in Rome was build as an iconic structure, as was the Sydney Opera house.

To be extremely technical the same can be said when France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the US.

When a structure is to be created it has two things in mind: Form and Function

Function being what the structure is to be used for.
Form is how it will look.

Nothing FAMOUS from Greece or Rome was built without wanting to be iconic.

That being said Most buildings today set out with that in mind. All structures (with obvious exceptions such as mass produced housing and manufacturing buildings) try to be iconic.

While a lot of what is planned as part of Limerick 2030 looks like it is really trying to look impressive, the simple fact is an "iconic" structure costs "iconic" cash. The spire cost (at the very least. I'm sure it cost way more in its early designs etc.) €400M to build and its form serves absolutely no function.

Our best bet is if we create a beautiful city centre which itself can become iconic, rather than some over priced eyesore like the Spire

zulutango

Quite often when the word 'iconic' is used in development proposals it's to distract people from the fact that it's utter rubbish, and probably damaging to the area in the long run.

Two projects that have been described as iconic in Limerick in the last few years are the woeful Limerick Boat Club proposal (thankfully stopped by An Bord Pleanála) and the bridge recently proposed by the Council which is a ridiculous, unnecessary, expensive blight on Limerick City's medieval vista.

Mc Love

The "new" bridge

Youngblood.III

A huge gold "pimp stick" sponsored by Nike Air Max and H.Samuel.

Special Circumstances

Mint Aero wrote: »

Where would you situate a sculptural/engineering/architectural icon in the city?

Sarsfields house site, or the the site of City hall. Once an architectural exorcism had been carried out.

Kevin McCloud stomping around - the power of christ compells you, the power of christ compells you...

Clareman

Mr.H wrote: »

Technically the Colosseum in Rome was build as an iconic structure, as was the Sydney Opera house.

Very good point, I guess what I was trying to say was that rarely were things just built as an iconic structure on it's own, they normally had a base function which grew to be iconic.

I guess a sports stadium could be considered iconic, Cardiff has the Millennium Stadium, Liverpool Anfield, Manchester Old Trafford, etc. etc., Thomond Park is a fairly iconic building already and has a good profile in the city

Iranoutofideas

Youngblood.III wrote: »

A huge gold "pimp stick" sponsored by Nike Air Max and H.Samuel.

:D:D


I think when that Richard Harris statue was unveiled they missed a glorious opportunity.

Instead of the awful "King Limerick" joke that was unveiled they instead should have commissioned a much larger statue of Harris as Dumbledore holding aloft his wand and have the wand tip light up at night.

The tourists would have loved it.

seachto7

Clareman wrote: »

I guess a sports stadium could be considered iconic, Cardiff has the Millennium Stadium, Liverpool Anfield, Manchester Old Trafford, etc. etc., Thomond Park is a fairly iconic building already and has a good profile in the city

They're only iconic to football fans. I don't think Thomond Park is in any way iconic. Your average tourist probably wouldn't notice it other than "a stadium".

I'd say the Liver building in Liverpool would be more iconic than Anfield. I can't think of any iconic building in Manchester. Maybe something in the city centre?

Clareman

I suppose I am sports mad so when I think of cities it's normally stadiums, for example I've no idea about the Liver Building, Barcelona would be the Nou Camp (even over the Olympic Stadium)

Clareman

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

:D:D


I think when that Richard Harris statue was unveiled they missed a glorious opportunity.

Instead of the awful "King Limerick" joke that was unveiled they instead should have commissioned a much larger statue of Harris as Dumbledore holding aloft his wand and have the wand tip light up at night.

The tourists would have loved it.

I would have had him as The Bull McCabe, he got an Oscar nomination for that role I think and it's a lot more in line with Limerick that King Arthur, even the statue of him in Kilkee is better than that statue. The Harry Potter movies weren't out long when the statue was commissioned though I think.

crazygeryy

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

:D:D


I think when that Richard Harris statue was unveiled they missed a glorious opportunity.

Instead of the awful "King Limerick" joke that was unveiled they instead should have commissioned a much larger statue of Harris as Dumbledore holding aloft his wand and have the wand tip light up at night.

The tourists would have loved it.

That's a very good idea. It would attract more people than the current statue anyway that's for sure. I don't think it looks anything like him.

Jofspring

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

:D:D


I think when that Richard Harris statue was unveiled they missed a glorious opportunity.

Instead of the awful "King Limerick" joke that was unveiled they instead should have commissioned a much larger statue of Harris as Dumbledore holding aloft his wand and have the wand tip light up at night.

The tourists would have loved it.

That's a great idea and no reason the current one couldn't be taken down and replaced. Copenhagen has a pretty crap looking mermaid and loads go there to see it.

Iranoutofideas

Clareman wrote: »

I would have had him as The Bull McCabe, he got an Oscar nomination for that role I think and it's a lot more in line with Limerick that King Arthur, even the statue of him in Kilkee is better than that statue. The Harry Potter movies weren't out long when the statue was commissioned though I think.

He was great in The Field alright but in strictly tourism terms I think Dumbledore would have more appeal.

It's a wonder they didn't stick a statue of Harris outside Thomond Park given his fondness for Munster Rugby.

zulutango

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

He was great in The Field alright but in strictly tourism terms I think Dumbledore would have more appeal.

It's a wonder they didn't stick a statue of Harris outside Thomond Park given his fondness for Munster Rugby.

Because they lost every time he attended a game!!

Clareman

I'd imagine getting the rights to re-create a character from 1 of the largest movie & book series of all time would have been extremely difficult, also he only appears in 2 of the movies and another actor had taken over the role.

Mr.H

seachto7 wrote: »

They're only iconic to football fans. I don't think Thomond Park is in any way iconic. Your average tourist probably wouldn't notice it other than "a stadium".

I'd say the Liver building in Liverpool would be more iconic than Anfield. I can't think of any iconic building in Manchester. Maybe something in the city centre?

But what about Wembley for example? The famous Wembley Way, The (self proclaimed) "iconic" twin towers inside. I think Clareman is kinda right about the sports stadiums.

While to a certain degree stadia in the UK are considered only (as you say) iconic to the particular fan. A lot of Stadiums are trying to change that perception by offering themselves as an all round entertainment centre rather than just a football ground.

Arsenals Emirates has done this by offering a wide range of non match day entertainment around the area. Something Old Trafford is trying to replicate to a good deal of success to be fair. Anfield is undergoing a complete area redesign which should make the stadium more usable on non match days. After all a truly iconic building or structure is one which is a pinpoint meeting spot while gathering tourists who take loads of cheesy selfies with it

On the flipside a lot of these big cities do have other iconic buildings and don't just have one.

Paris - Eiffel Tower but also Arch the Triumph, the Lourve, Notre Dam to name a few
Rome - Colosseum but also St. Peters Basillica, Pantheon, Sistine Chapel
London - Big Ben, Buckingham, Tower bridge
Dublin - Spire, trinity, Dublin castle, The Wellington Monument

As someone who has a hard on for Architecture I think its far better to have a series of natural attractions rather than a city full of fakeness (see Las Vegas for 'Iconic buildings')

In Limerick we have
St Mary's Cathederal
St Johns Cathederal
Thomond Park
King Johns Castle
Treaty Stone
Hunt Museum
Art Gallery
Taits Square
Pery Square
St Johns Square
O'Connells Crescent
Greyhound stadium
Our attractive city bridges
Our Georgian, Eduardian and Victorian styled architecture
Our Growing skyline and riverside
Our beautiful river

Then we have the potential to redesign our railway area, Arthurs quay park, Catherine street, Patrick street and Kings Island.

Limerick has so much potential to take advantage of in terms of becoming an iconic City in its own right. We are 25km from an International Airport (which needs to be connected by a "dart" rail to make full use of), Bunratty castle which is on the way, Foynes across its estuary.

We have so much potential to have even commuter and tourist ferries on the estuary from BallyB (Possible but difficult) to Kilrush, Foynes and Shannon to Limerick, Castletroy, Kilaloe up to even Longford.

What I would do is contract the Art college and even primary schools to design a series of sculptures to display in various spots around the city. I would set up volunteer groups to go into unused areas and clean up these empty plots for use as Dog parks, Picnic spots, Relaxing zen gardens and general recreation areas. I would set up community groups in each area of the city which will take responsibility for the upkeep and development of unused lots. I would force owners of derelict buildings into either planning to use their development or forcing their sale by CPO's.

Thats how I would fix Limerick

Iranoutofideas

I always thought a big Ferris Wheel in Arthurs Quay park overlooking the river would be a great idea. A big one now, not some half-assed thing.

Also,this.

peckerhead

+1 to Mr. H's suggestions above. The comparisons being drawn with Paris, Rome, Manhattan etc. are ludicrous. Limerick has plenty of "iconic" architecture, but the experience of walking around the city is ruined by decades of neglect and mismanagement. Simple things. What's the good of fancy paving and hanging baskets when the streets are permanently filthy and open spaces strewn with litter? I had forgotten just how bad it was until I arrived off an early evening train into Colbert station one night recently and had to use the toilet (only to pee, thankfully). It's beyond disgusting. As long as that remains visitors' first impression of Limerick, grandiose plans for "iconic skylines" are a waste of time IMHO.

source

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

I always thought a big Ferris Wheel in Arthurs Quay park overlooking the river would be a great idea. A big one now, not some half-assed thing.

Also,this.

I hear those things are awfully loud!

peckerhead

I was just out in the car there and saw a lot of groups of people in orange hi-viz bibs cleaning up green spaces (presumably local residents).
Now that's what I'm talking about...

(sez he sitting at home posting on Boards instead of out there helping )

dave 27

We hve an icon i think everyone here forgets about, you can see it anywhere in Limerick and entering Limerick by road or rail..

Insect Overlord

I see there's a "TLC" Twitter account especially for the occasion today. "Team Limerick Clean-up". Fair play to them.

Silentcorner

Over 10,000 people are cleaning up the city today, the countys biggest clean up operation...fair play to them.

I'd love to see the Riverfront from Thomond Bridge to Shannon Bridge lite up on both sides in...it is the city's iconic vista, I often pass King Johns castle or St Mary's Cathedral at night and both are in virtual darkness...it cost a lot less than a footbridge!

adaminho

dave 27 wrote: »

We hve an icon i think everyone here forgets about, you can see it anywhere in Limerick and entering Limerick by road or rail..

The Chicken Hut?