IF YOU’VE ever wanted to know what good architecture we’re missing out on because of the recession, drop into darc space gallery on North Great George’s Street in Dublin 1 to catch an exhibition aptly called Pause.
What’s on view are models, drawings and computer-generated images of innovative architectural projects of significance that have been delayed, postponed or abandoned in recent times.
Remember the Watchtower, by Scott Tallon Walker, that was supposed to become the iconic centrepiece of Harry Crosbie’s Point Village? That’s in Pause, as is Paul Keogh’s tower for Heuston Gate.
Less well-known is BCDH Architects’ radical scheme to redevelop Dublin City Council’s multi-storey car park on Drury Street, with a shopping centre laid out around a twisted Libeskind-like atrium.
Or Harlequin Garden, planned as a linear park along the Royal Canal by Agence Ter in collaboration with Henchion + Reuter Architects; it has been postponed indefinitely due to the docklands funding crisis.
It’s all in a fully-illustrated hardback book, with essays by Gerry Cahill, Niall McCullough, Eddie Conroy and Conor Skehan. See darcspace.ie – or better still, go and be intrigued by the possibilities.
