New Drogheda Courthouse

positron

Driving across town the new building nearing completion caught my eye, and errmm.. bad design choice?



Very blocky looking concrete cube, right next a beautiful Gothic style church dating back to 1878 I think.

Teapot30

Its so ugly, they may have used the same gob****e architects that designed southgate shopping centre.

Lord TSC

I kinda like it

henryporter

Looks interesting enough - whats wrong with it?

leonards

Lord TSC wrote: »

I kinda like it

I really like it.... there is nothing wrong with blending modern buildings along side old ones....

I'd be more more worried about the rest of the buildings around it... the old old town centre looks like something from Soviet Union... the derelict buildings over the other side of the bridge... they all look way way worse... narrow west street is horrible... etc etc

positron

The rendering above is misleading - it shows other modern looking buildings around it and a lot of open space, and that's really not the case. I will try and post a photo of how it actually looks later today/tomorrow.

I underestand that this is all about individual taste, and to me that design is not very modern. I would have thought something a lot more open, with more glass and curved roof etc (I don't have a good example to show) would have been more appropriate, but then again I hope I am proven wrong as the work finishes.

fh041205

IMO the eyesore is the awfully decrepit Abbey centre building next door to it. Time for that place to see the business end of a bulldozer I think.

ssmith6287

does anyone know if there is a story behind the design? generally it opens peoples eyes a bit more

Scotty #

Saw it yesterday. I like it. Drogheda could do with plenty more modern looking buildings.

minzabud

Their is enough parking problems without building a courthouse in one, an effort should have been made to do away with the Abbey Centre and build there.

ssmith6287

minzabud wrote: »

Their is enough parking problems without building a courthouse in one, an effort should have been made to do away with the Abbey Centre and build there.

Location Im guessing is to do with proximity to the garda station. Would love to see something nice done with the abbey

The abbey changed hands last year, I do believe, so maybe the new owners are just waiting for the courthouse to open up and then they'll spruce themselves up a bit?

In fairness, the abbey will do well now I'd say, with a few decent cafes in there to grab the gardai, solicitors, etc coming and going from lunch and breaks in the day. That's what I'd be gearing up for anyway. A new 'modern' plastering effort on the outside skin of the building would freshen it without being too structurally demanding, I'd imagine.


It does kill parking in the town, though. That, coupled with the thoughts of turning the other car park opposite the Garda station into a driving test centre means there'll be no parking there at all. I'd have thought the obvious idea would have been to have basement floor/underground parking in the court house for the public? (so you get to have your new courthouse, but you also retain all the parking spaces it takes up).

As far as I am aware, the Garda station itself will be next to be getting a crane pulled up outside. I believe it's getting extended in size and potentially an extra storey added to it.


EDIT: Also, to keep on topic - I am one of the few that likes the new courthouse building. But i do agree with the above that the artist impression is quite misleading as there doesnt appear to be as much free space around it (albeit I do believe there is some, as the building itself isn't slap-bang in the centre of the car park, but actually staggered back a bit towards the Garda Station, so there'll be a 'public' area gap between the courthouse and the church across the road. I presume the boundary wall on the car park will be knocked and the bus stop will be better integrated.. but at the same time, I can't recall the last time Dominic's bridge has had a lick of paint, so i'd presume that they're focusing more on building the fancy building and less on sprucing the general area up a bit to actually make the finished area as a whole look in any way half decent).

markc1184

Just on the issue of parking, the car park that was at SuperValu has been open and FOC for the past couple of weeks. It was shut for a time when SV closed. I'm unsure if this is long term or not, or even who is running it but at least it's an option.

Mr. Muddle

I really like the new building. It shimmers in the sun but still looks good in the rain. I like putting well designed modern buildings beside old ones, I hate when they try to make something new look old, that very rarely works well.

I think it will look well as it ages, some buildings with too much glass don't, for example the Boyne Tower at St. Marys Bridge, besides the fact that it's still unoccupied it just has too much going on, tinted curved glass, green bits, different heights and shapes, it just looks a mess. Even when occupied it'll be very difficult to have those windows looking clean all the time, really not suited to our Irish weather.

I agree the Abbey looks terrible.

Mr. Muddle

markc1184 wrote: »

Just on the issue of parking, the car park that was at SuperValu has been open and FOC for the past couple of weeks. It was shut for a time when SV closed. I'm unsure if this is long term or not, or even who is running it but at least it's an option.

That carpark is not FOC, it's run by NCP now there are pay & display machines there. If you are going to something in the Westcourt Hotel you can give your reg number to reception for free parking.

It is a really handy carpark though, people must not realise that it is open again, we parked there on St. Patricks Day for the parade, I only chanced it at 11.55 there were only a few cars in there, it was great to be so near in the rain.

Mr. Muddle

Mr. Muddle wrote: »

I really like the new building. It shimmers in the sun but still looks good in the rain. I like putting well designed modern buildings beside old ones, I hate when they try to make something new look old, that very rarely works well.

I think it will look well as it ages, some buildings with too much glass don't, for example the Boyne Tower at St. Marys Bridge, besides the fact that it's still unoccupied it just has too much going on, tinted curved glass, green bits, different heights and shapes, it just looks a mess. Even when occupied it'll be very difficult to have those windows looking clean all the time, really not suited to our Irish weather.

I agree the Abbey looks terrible.

I know the vast majority of people would share the same viewpoint as yourself on the Boyne Tower, but i have to be honest and say I actually love that building.

I also love that it's right beside Wogan's, which has it's own circular corner with glass. It's like a 'Basic VS Contemporary" kinda thing. I think it's really nice.

Mylow

Teapot30 wrote: »

Its so ugly, they may have used the same gob****e architects that designed southgate shopping centre.

Southgate was built to satisfy Meath planners requirement for "street scapes", hence no roof originally, it has a roof now over the "street scapes".

Lord TSC

I've been told that Southgate was a copy/paste job from some American shopping center. Again, I actually like the look of Southgate. But the lack of roof was just sheer idiocy...

Lord TSC

What's going on at the back of he abbey? Drove past today and they seem to have the car park walled off as if they are building something.

lucernarian

The Boyne Tower is completely out of place, much like the multi storey car parks which are so popular the higher levels aren't even used! And building high buildings between Millmount and the centre of town, it was and is madness.

The more car access is provided for in the middle of Drogheda, the less desirable it is to actually get out and walk around tbh.

Considering what's there now, the courthouse won't be terrible but I agree, doesn't fit well near a 19th century gothic church.