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Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

Boomtime beauties: 6 Celtic Tiger buildings that deserve more appreciation, according to architects

Plus one that continues to divide opinion.

THE CELTIC TIGER era has a bad reputation for building. 

A lack of enforcement of building and planning regulations, during a period of intense construction activity, led to a lot of poor decisions (and even some dangerous ones). 

But while some housing built during the boom years was a disaster, not all building of that era was bad. Public money was flowing and some of that cash got invested in high-quality buildings, designed by exceptional architects.

According to Michael Hayes, architect and editor of Architecture Ireland, there was brave and ambitious architecture and design during the period. “Towards the end of the boom there were housing projects that were really quite innovative and daring,” he says.

Emma Gilleece, an architectural historian, agrees. “The Celtic Tiger era produced some impressive and innovative buildings which should not be tainted by their association with the Celtic Tiger.”

Here are some of their picks.

1. The Tourism & Hospitality Building at Cork Institute of Technology

Designed by De Blacam & Meagher, to the untrained eye the design of the building appears to be based on a castle or fortress. It is made of red clay brickwork with aluminium framed windows and has oak panelled doors.

Gilleece loves it. “It is a superb group of brick buildings breathtakingly conceived and detailed,” she says. The building has ” a beautiful sense of space created internally and externally and is an example of restrained elegance.”

2. The Lewis Glucksman Gallery at UCC

This gallery, designed by O’Donnell & Tuomey, is a cultural and educational institution that promotes the creation and exploration of the visual arts. Hayes says it is an excellent example of modern architecture and  “still renowned as one of the best buildings of the decade.”

Prior to the Celtic Tiger boom, there was a shortage of theatre and art spaces across the country, he says. “Ireland just did not have the network of art centres that it has today – they were all built in the 90s and noughties,” he says.

So, in that sense, the boom was transformative for the arts in Ireland – especially outside of the main cities, he says.

Several smaller towns got a new designated arts building during the boom era – another great example is The VISUAL in Carlow he says, “which is a stunning space.” 

3. Kildare County Council buildings in Naas

This building has “quite a dramatic form, the walls slant to make it look more dynamic in shape,” says Hayes.

Its designers Heneghan Peng are internationally renowned Irish architects, he says. “A lot of these projects were taken by Irish architects that would have a very good reputation,” he adds. 

While there were serious issues with building standards in some privately built developments, the publicly funded projects didn’t come under the same financial pressure to turn the buildings around quickly, he explains.

Mostly, the public bodies were building offices for themselves, so the pressure wasn’t the same and there was a bit of freedom too. “So they could be a little bit more personal,” he says. “This was the age of iconic architecture.”

During the Celtic Tiger era, lots of councils got new buildings and many of them were high-quality designs.  “They are quite flashy compared to architecture today, in terms of style,” says Hayes. 

Also check out the Donegal County Council buildings in Letterkenny which are designed to integrate with the rural landscape, if not with the other buildings in the town. Many of the County Council buildings stand out quite a lot as they don’t tend to emulate the style of other buildings in the towns they lead, he says. 

4. Limerick County Council Headquarters, Dooradoyle, Limerick.

Gilleece admires the council building in her native Limerick, designed by Bucholz McEvoy. The headquarters is located “in the suburban wasteland of Limerick that is Dooradoyle,” she says.

“With its delicate timber brise-soleil this building is a visual delight and relief next to the monster that is the Crescent Shopping Centre,” she says. “The front facade curves upwards, reaching out to the sky.” 

5. Elmpark Green, Dublin 4 

This massive award-winning development, also designed by Bucholz McEvoy, is made up of three buildings: an office complex, an apartment complex and a commercial building. “There was clearly a level of ambition to deliver something better than what was there before,” says Hayes.

The stylish design of Elmpark also caught the eye of, Gilleece. It sits in “contrast to the brash commercial blocks we associate with the Celtic Tiger,” she says. “These are not only sustainable and dense but elegant glazed fingers that somehow sit neatly on the landscape.”

There were a lot of good quality, publicly funded buildings at the time, says Hayes, but Elmpark demonstrates that there were exceptional private sector projects too.  “That sense of confidence and ambition doesn’t seem to be driving what we are building at the moment.”

6. The Millennium Wing, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

The award-winning extension to the National Gallery, designed by Benson & Forsyth, has an observation deck on the roof, a sculpture court and a façade of Portland stone. “To me, it’s one of the finest examples of the integration of the new with the old in Dublin,” says Gilleece.“I adore how the new entrance addresses Clare Street.

“Its modest exterior contains, as Shane O’Toole puts it, ‘the Grand Canyon of Irish interiors’.” 

7. The Convention Centre, North Wall, Dublin 

The Convention Centre stands out as one of the landmark buildings of modern Dublin. It was designed in 1998 so it is ‘of’ the Celtic Tiger era – mind you, it was only completed in 2010 after numerous delays in planning and construction.

The award-winning building designed by Kevin Roche is regarded as iconic for a number of architectural innovations, including the curved glass frontage. It is generally regarded as a fine example of modern architecture. 

Many of the offices in the Docklands are high-quality designs, says Hayes, but unfortunately in his view, the Convention Centre is just not one of them.”That building is a bad neighbour,” he says. “It only has one façade you can use – and every other side is just a blank wall of stone.”

“I think it’s one of the ugliest buildings in the entire city centre,” says the editor of Architecture Ireland. “It hurts my eyes, its aesthetically terrible and its prominence on the Quays is unwelcome.”

Ouch!

Michael Hayes (@Michael_K_Hayes) is an architect and editor of Architecture Ireland (@archireland).

Emma Gilleece (@Gileece) is an architectural historian, a committee member of An Taisce Limerick and a committee member of DoCoMoMo a voluntary organisation committed to preserving modern architecture in Ireland.

More: An insider’s tour of Dublin in 6 much-maligned modern buildings>

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    Mute ChuckE
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    May 9th 2019, 8:37 AM

    The aras devoy/government building in naas is a disaster and the perfect example of bad planning. Those very same beautiful glass sheets almost caused a staff walk out because they were being roasted. A huge amount of money had to be pumped into retrofitting solutions. Would you believe that building houses the kildare planning office. Of course you would, it’s ireland. Beauty is nothing without functionality

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    May 9th 2019, 11:12 AM

    @ChuckE: Hubris Cill Dara. As lop-sided outside as it is inside.

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    Mute Barry
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    May 9th 2019, 4:26 PM

    @ChuckE: interesting story but not actually true, someone was pulling your leg because that didn’t happen .

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    Mute eric nelligan
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    May 9th 2019, 7:33 AM

    A big yuck to 5 of the 7. I like the look of the convention centre while the limerick library is passable from one side.

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    Mute John Mc Avinue
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    May 9th 2019, 10:22 AM

    @eric nelligan: It’s not the Limerick library though, it’s the county council offices. Passed it for the first time in ages the other day and was impressed with how it looked. Those pictures above don’t do it justice at all

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    Mute PC
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    May 9th 2019, 7:49 AM

    I went to cit and that building as used by all construction and design classes for what not to do. It looks good in photographs but does not work as a space.

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    Mute Barry Vickers
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    May 9th 2019, 11:55 AM

    I worked in Elm Park Green for a while. It was lovely looking but very frustratingly impractical (very few parking spaces, badly laid out and dangerous junctions, dark and gloomy on the shadowed side while unbearably hot on the sun side, very hard to navigate your way around it etc
    It was the epitome of “form over function”.

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    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
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    May 9th 2019, 8:22 AM

    That CIT building looks like a ruin. Shows how out of touch modern architects are. They talk about buildings like they’re works of modern art. That’s not a compliment.

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    Mute Honey Badger
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    May 9th 2019, 8:31 AM

    The Celtic tiger buildings are best left to the bulldozers. Don’t forget there full of pyrite and bad workmanship. There’s plenty of examples. And if you ask any of the maintenance men who look after these (fine) Celtic tiger buildings they’ll tell you a few stories.

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    Mute Robert Woodward
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    May 9th 2019, 11:13 AM

    I was in CIT recently and that building is in poor shape .It may have been nice when it opened but the red bricks have started to degrade and turn white and lots of green mould too.Red bricks dont seem to work very well in our climate

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    Mute Fiona Lawler
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    May 9th 2019, 6:15 PM

    Can I just point out that the roof in the KCC building is leaking!!!! Sure it only cost about €60/€70 million!!!

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    Mute alan doyle
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    May 9th 2019, 4:17 PM

    Almost all of them grandiose over engineered public buildings. Paid for by our tax money. Ego trips

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    Mute Patrick Nolan
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    May 9th 2019, 7:53 PM

    @alan doyle:
    bullseye

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    Mute Desmond Lyons
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    May 9th 2019, 4:33 PM

    Priory Hall?

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    Mute Derek Goulding
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    May 9th 2019, 11:36 PM

    Brutalist Architecture. All very modern day socialism.

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    Mute ted hagan
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    May 9th 2019, 10:39 PM

    Don’t rate the convention centre. It’s scale is too small. It looks a bit daft actually.
    I think Kevin Roche had something better in mind but was thwarted by the planners.
    There are some impressive building thought. Fingal has a fine-looking council HQ…. councillors, it seems, know how to treat themselves.

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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    May 9th 2019, 11:27 PM

    Can’t say I like them all, but regardless,six of the seven are state funded. The real problem with the Celtic Tiger era was the privately funded crap that was put up.

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