Irish Arts Review
Building for the Nation: Architectural Services at the OPWAuthor(s): Richard HurleySource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 23, 175th Anniversary of the Office of Public Works(2006), pp. 12-17Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25503511 .
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BUILDING FOR THE NATION - ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES AT THE OPW
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In an examination of recent, critically-acclaimed projects from Architectural Services
at the OPW, RICHARD HURLEY finds a sense of harmony grounded in a respect for
environment common to all structures
IjL rchitecture in Ireland has undergone a
I % dramatic change for the better in recent
i^^^m times, particularly during the past two
J?L JL. decades; Also many buildings constructed
during the 1970s and earlier are now making way for
renewed investment opportunities by hungry corporate
financial institutions. This is particularly true in rela
tion to commercial building, but other building types such as hospitals, built as 'state of the art* in the 1950s
olition. This reality of the temporary nature of archi- ^^^^H
tecture in our time sends a strong message to architects. ^^^^H
Architecture, once the most permanent of images is ^^^^|
now becoming the most vulnerable in the ever-changing ^^^^H timeline. Clients are no longer interested in^the idea of
^^^^H long life loose fit', which produced such drab results in
^^^^| the past This has given way to the search for an iconic
^^^^| image, which will promote the product The temptation ^^^^| for architects to respond to this cult of the ego is one
^^^^H which needs restraint Countless global images flood
^^^^H
I
1 2 OPW 1?5TII ANNIVERSARY EDITION
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175 OPW
17? Office of Public Works Otfig na nOtbreacha Poib?
!^H Wm
Architectural Services at the OPW
the architectural journals and media. Fam? comes
quickly, burns brightly and then is extinguished in the
next flurry of fiambovancy.
The impressive portfolio of work emanating from
Architectural Services at the Office of Public Works in
recent times steers well clear of such extremes.
Breaking away from the philosophy of gridlock (closed
symbol) their body of work conveys a more open
humanism, which reflects the ethos of Irish culture
and landscape; The impact of architecture and land
scape overlapping is very much part of the ?PW
dynamic. Contemporary Irish architecture does not,
strictly speaking, portray a national identity, with the
exception of the work of the late Liam McCormick
whose epic church buildings literally grew out of Irish
soil, wedded to place and climate. Only Finland can
claim an indigenous national architecture, at the heart 4tffl
1 EU Food and
Veterinary Office
Headquarters, CoMeath
2 New Custom
House, Dublin Port
3 Atrium, Galway
City Museum
1 3
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I BUILDING FOR THE NATION - ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES AT THE OPW
:
4
4 Galway Custom
House extension
5 State Laboratory, Co Kildare;the board
room
6 EU Food and
Veterinary Office
Headquarters, Co Meath
of which lies its forests, the inspiration of Sibelius and
Aalto. Ireland has its lakes, rivers, mountains and
shorelines, and blossomed once in early Christian
times. In an organisation as big as the OPW there are
many forces at work and while many talents emerge
from time to time, there is no 'house style'. Nor should
there be. However, it is evident from the body of work
emerging in recent times that the pursuit of architec
ture is taken very seriously. It is impossible in a short
overview such as this to cover the wide spectrum of
work contained within the portfolio. One cannot ade
OPW architectural services have received numerous awards and
honours that reflect the esteem in which they are held by their peers
quately do justice to it. Principal Architect Patrick
Cooney, has succeeded Michael O'Doherty's long lead
ership role (1990-2004) and the transition is assured
by the design network of talented architects throughout
the organisation led by Ciar?n O'Connor together with
Liam Egan, Michael Haugh, Klaus Unger, Angela Rolfe
and Finbarr Wall. The net outcome is the emergence of
new arch-types possessing strong architectural content.
High quality is common to all, but the grammar is dif
ferent. Architecture does not need to aspire to great
ness to be good, but it does carry a symbol, open or
closed. OPW Architectural Services have received
numerous awards and honours that reflect the esteem
in which they are held by their peers, including the
gold medal of the Royal Institute of the Architects of
Ireland. Five or six major projects of recent times can
be considered here: the EU Food and Veterinary
Office, Dunsany, Co Meath (Figs l,ck,6); the Marine
Institute, Oranmore, Co Galway; the State Laboratory
, Celbridge, Co Kildare (Figs 5ck7 and); the Museum
of Irish County Life, Turlough House, Co Mayo (Figs
9-11); Leinster House 2000, Dublin (Fig 8); and the
Galway City Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway (Fig 3).
They all have one factor in common - they inhabit
spectacular sites, both in urban and rural settings. In
an environmental sense, the sovereignty of Ireland is
still to be found in its landscape, not in its architecture.
In the early years of the state the national Romantic
Movement had played itself out. Nothing evolved from
1 4 I
OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
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1 ^ HH'^ i
the Celtic Revival in building terms and Hiberno
Romanesque as a movement went into decline very rap
idly. The emergence of functionalism and its failure to
satisfy deeper needs of society has, in recent years, led
to an explosion of 'iconic' architecture. In this media
driven pursuit of imagery, egocentric architects build as
if all history has ceased. There is an inescapable time
bound character to built form, and heroic architecture
has a pathetic vulnerability. The OPW has steered well
clear of such fantasy and has taken a reserved stance in
the middle ground. A strong landscape setting has a
sobering influence on design. Their response to this is
a contingent factor in a number of buildings illustrated
here - for example, the EU Food and Veterinary
Office, the State Laboratory Kildare, and Turlough
Park. In the two former buildings, a number of com
mon features are noticeable. Two-storey structures are
wrapped around a courtyard and internal routes are
developed linking the various functions within. This is
a convenient way of reducing the scale of the building,
but perhaps the courtyard idea is more urban than
rural, a place of assembly and accessibility to sur
roundings activities. Extended elevations on the outer
face of large courtyard buildings create interest. The
Ciar?n O'Connor
Assistant Principal Architect Ciar?n O'Connor qualified at the
Dublin Institute of Technology in 1979. He first gained
architectural and landscape experience in Germany and Canada,
before joining the OPW in 1991.
O'Connor's work has included numerous award-winning visitor and
cultural facilities throughout the country, and he has won many
awards and medals both here in Ireland and
abroad. In 1996 O'Connor was elected a
Fellow Member of the RIAI for 'work of an
exceptional architectural standard'.
O'Connor was born in Finglas, and having
grown up near Glasnevin he thoroughly enjoyed
working on the restoration of the Palm House
complex at the National Botanic Gardens. This
project, which has been recently completed is
to be awarded the European Union Prize for
Cultural Heritage in the Europa Nostra Awards
this June. He was involved in the original master plan and manage
ment plan drawn up in 1992, when the Botanical Gardens were
transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the OPW, and has
been closely involved ever since. As he explains: 'All the specialist
research on how to restore wrought and cast iron we had done for the
Turner Curvilinear Glasshouse in the mid-1990s was of great benefit
when we started work on the Palm House in 2004. We now had teak
to deal with as well, and a much taller building -
twenty-two metres
high, which is like a seven-storey building.'
Work at Glasnevin will now pause for the first time since 1992:
This is a chance to reassess a few things, including staff require
ments. In the autumn we hope to start on the last projects, including
the restoration of the remaining historic glasshouses: the Cactus
House, the Water Lily House and the Fern House.'
Other recent projects that O'Connor has been closely involved with
include the Galway City Museum, which is now complete and will be
opening this summer. Also in Co Galway, The Marine Institute
Headquarters, consisting of a laboratory, offices, library and cr?che, has
just been completed on a beautiful site at Rinvilie near Oranmore.
OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION |
15
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corridor of very large cellular buildings can create
fatigue if not broken down into pathways that, taken
together, add up to the ideas of a 'route'. Nevertheless,
the routes within these buildings do not disorientate.
They present a series of surprises, having a sense of
location, indicating major elements, different functions
and acting as links to interrelationships. Thus the pit
falls of long corridors are largely avoided. Instead of
boredom, there is a path to be explored. Ciar?n
O'Connors palette of materials is expressed mainly by
his love and use of wood. That, and the use of white
stucco, identifies most if his work. The nature of wood
is explored to its limits and occasionally beyond.
Details are practical and consistent, but the activity is
never merely academic. Consider the EU Food and
Veterinary Office and the State Laboratory in Kildare
(Figs 1,6,7). In both these buildings, the use of wood is
strikingly evident. Wood is a natural material of
colour, texture and warmth, and these unique qualities
are developed in architecture. These two buildings
bring a tactile experience in the threatening world of
steel and plastics. The corduroy effects of vertical tim
bers and the layering of wall surfaces can be seen as a
sub-conscious desire to decorate. Purists and critics
might call it camouflage, but it is better seen as an over
all concept of surface treatment both inside and out,
responding to light and shadow. The hard edge of sei
Heroic architecture has a pathetic vulnerability. The OPW has steered well clear of such fantasy and has taken a reserved stance in the middle ground
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BUILDING FOR THE NATION - ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES AT THE OPW
ence is given a human face in the State Laboratory,
where an uncompromising statement of servicing sci
ence is suppressed. Timberclad chimneypots hardly suf
fice. Firstly resembling definitive cross-wall breaks with
in the building the chimneystack service pods is diffi
cult to read. Here, they are an important feature with
out disclosing real identity (Fig 7).
A very different challenge is resolved in the City Museum in Galway. Situated on the river Corrib, close
to Spanish Arch, the building reflects western light and
sound of water while affording dramatic views through
picture windows as the river flows towards the Atlantic.
The symbol of this museum is not one of a closed series
of galleries. It is more open than closed, and displays a
preoccupation with the use of light and in particular
with the path of the sun around the building. The atri
um (Fig 3), or hallowing out of the volume, along with
the curved external wall culminating in roof lighting, is
a major development. Faint echoes of Finland come to
mind, but none the worse for that. This is a rich and
promising road in the exploration of space.
The same observations in terms of space develop
ment can be attributed to the Museum of Country Life
at Turlough Park, Co Mayo designed by Senior
Architect Des Byrne (Figs 9-10). This building, more
than any other of its type, anywhere, has moved out of
the traditional museum mould of introspection. It
takes the visitor on a journey, along a path that
embraces not only artifacts, but also light and the land
scape and its environs. The experience of moving in
and around the museum is important as well as focus
ing on the exhibits. The path leads through three
floors of open inter-locking volumes, overlooking
spaces below and in distance affording surprising views
of historic ruins and conserved monuments. Buildings
are no longer required to function as a machine. Social
intercourse is now a factor and this is surely a healthy
development in the aesthetic form and function.
Stone is used extensively as external cladding at
Turlough Park. The ashlar type coursing of Wicklow
granite may belie its function, but it shines brightly in
the green landscape, as it nestles into the hill and steps
down to a river and a man-made lake. Stone is suitable
for this hard-edged but subtly modelled building, which
is knitted together in a highly sophisticated syntax of
plan and section (Fig 11). Meticulously detailed, it is a
cool and highly successful building, one that the whole
nation can reflect upon.
Many other projects deserve discussion, such as
Leinster House, New Custom House, Dublin Port (Fig
2), and the Galway Custom House extension (Fig 4), but space does not permit. It is not enough to write or
talk about buildings. They must be visited to encounter
the experience they bring. The reward is the journey
within, the experience of light and space, the meaning
of centre and path that architecture evokes.
Richard Hurley is Principal of Richard Hurley and Associates
Architects. He is the author of Irish Church Architecture in the Era
of Vatican II, and he is the Honorary Professor of Architecture at the
Royal Hibernian Academy.
7 State Laboratory, Co Kildare; the
entrance elevation
8 Leinster House
2000 project
(courtyard behind
19th-century wall)
9 Museum of
Country Life,
Turlough Park, Co Mayo,- view into
the main exhibition
space
10 Museum of
Country Life,
Turlough Park, Co Mayo
11 Museum of
Country Life,
Turlough Park, Co Mayo; long section through exhibition building
1101q
0PW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION I"
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