The top prize at the RIAI awards went to UCC's Lewis Glucksman Gallery, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Cork's role as European City of Culture 2005 may be contentious, but at least it can take pride in the award of "Best Public Building" for the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at UCC - even if it was designed by Dublin-based architects O'Donnell and Tuomey.
Somewhat surprisingly, this was the southern capital's only gong, though other completed projects are included in the RIAI's Irish Architecture Awards exhibition, notably McGarry Ní Eanaigh's Shandon pedestrian bridge and UCC's Sólas Centre for Nursing and Healthcare Studies by Carr Cotter and Naessens.
The assessors were clearly transported by the Glucksman Gallery, describing it as a "dreamy and poetic . . . treasure-house in the trees" that provides a "new fulcrum between town and gown". This is endorsed by the client (presumably its director, Fiona Kearney), who sees it as a "spectacular addition" to the UCC campus.
The "Best Sustainable Project" award deservedly went to London-based Keith Williams Architects for Athlone's new Civic Centre. What impressed the assessors was that it "does not shout sustainability" but shows "how environmentally sustainable design considerations can, with skill, be integrated with good architecture".
It is ironic, however, that the jury found the "absence of air-conditioning, even in the council chamber, commendable" given that so many architects - not to mention mechanical and services engineers - are far too willing to fall into line when developers plump for conventional energy-intensive, hermetically-sealed office buildings.
Westmeath County Council and Athlone Town Council wanted a striking landmark structure that would set a new standard for future developments.
The fact that it has been "acclaimed and warmly welcomed by the people of Athlone", as the clients say, is surely a vote of confidence in contemporary architecture.
Arthur Gibney's IMI headquarters in Sandyford broke new ground when it was built 30 years ago; as the jury said, it is "one of the architectural masterpieces of the last generation". Now its latest addition, a conference centre and bedroom block, has won the "Best Commercial Building" award for Arthur Gibney and Partners.
A sheltered housing scheme for the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Gorey, Co Wexford, was named as "Best Housing Project". Designed by Paul Keogh Architects, it is gathered around a pleasant communal garden with a mature tree as the centrepiece. The jury thought it was "delightful", creating a "safe and relaxing" environment.
The "Best Building in the Landscape" award was shared by two very different houses - one redolent of a traditional long house, but with a barrel-vaulted copper roof, in Roslea, Co Fermanagh, designed by Aughey O'Flaherty Architects, and the other a stunning "glass box" by Niall McLaughlin Architects at Dirk Cove, near Clonakilty.
The latter, which connects two pre-existing stone sheds, was built as a holiday home for private clients based in London who see themselves retiring there eventually and say they have become "very popular with friends and relatives since the place was finished". It has already received a "special mention" in this year's AAI awards.
Niall McLaughlin Architects also scooped an AAI award for a daringly different social housing scheme in London's East End for the Peabody Trust.
And now it gets an RIAI award for "an architecture which strives to elevate the mundane to the extraordinary, with radical and innovative use of materials, ordered and controlled".
A rural house near Ennistymon, Co Clare, has won a regional award for architect Michael Kelly. It involved renovating an old cottage, and building a parallel extension to the rear with a zinc-clad barn roof that "respects the traditional forms of the Irish countryside", the jury said, while creating contemporary living space within.
Much more radical was Todd Architects' award-winning renovation of a Victorian house at Malone Park in Belfast. The removal of its original stairs and landings and their replacement with a glass staircase produced a "dramatic volume rising through three floors", with more flexible spaces, internal vistas and subtle proportions.
The mews house at Alma Road, Monkstown, for which Boyd Cody Architects won the AAI's Downes Medal, garners an RIAI award for its "carefully controlled proportions, plan arrangement and mannered elevations which create a delightful 'Villa Moderne'," as the jury put it.
Their client, Ann Sweeney, will need a niche for gongs now.
Two contemporary domestic extensions in Dublin with the power to transform the older houses to which they are attached have won awards for NJBA Architects and FKL Architects. In both cases, light was just as important as space and the clients - one of whom insists on remaining private - are clearly delighted by the results.
The award for "Best Conservation / Restoration Project" went to Howley Harrington Architects for what the jury described as a "complex, daunting and seemingly insurmountable" repair of the Browne Clayton Monument, near New Ross, Co Wexford; it also showed that conservation excellence can be achieved within a realistic budget.
Alastair Coey Architects was praised for the restraint of its restoration of The Mall in Armagh. "The park plays an important role in this historic urban landscape and the project is recognised as a carefully measured act to enhance and conserve this much-admired space without overstatement", according to the assessors.
Two prime examples of careful conservation combined with skilful modern interventions also won awards - the Irish Architectural Archive in Merrion Square, by Office of Public Works architects, and the Waterford City Library, by McCullough Mulvin Architects. In both cases, the clients say, users have responded with delight and enthusiasm.
The board of St James's Hospital has been gracious enough to concede that Henry J Lyons and Partners imbued its new Mortuary and Post-Mortem Suite with "an entirely appropriate architectural sensitivity . . . that was not explicit in the hospital's written brief". What impressed the jury was its "prayerful light, stillness and repose".
The Rosminian Order's Retreat Centre near Kilsheelan, Co Tipperary, also wanted something different - a series of "poustinia" (Russian prayer cabins) "where people went to find God within themselves". What architects Bates Maher created was praised by the jury as "small places of contemplation [ that] confound their modest scale".
Another building that surpassed its brief is Dublin City Council's Donore Avenue Youth and Community Centre by Henchion + Reuter Architects. This was described by the jury as "a complex, mixed-use community building elegantly expressed as a large house set between church and flats" that offered "pleasant surprises at every turn".
In Galway, Bucholz McEvoy Architects won high praise for their SAP call centre. "Its elegant form and construction derive from clear rational planning, meticulous detailing and flawless construction. The atrium drives the environmental design while creating a spatially rich interior environment for the building users", as the citation says.
This is SAP's first international "contact centre" and, according to the client, "it was important that the building be both flexible and tailored for the work culture" where the age-profile is young (19-21). "Productivity is key", so there is little time for employees to talk. A six-minute response time meant they "must think on their feet".
Another western award went to Studio M Architects for Lavelle's Pharmacy in an unidentified town in Co Mayo, which not only has an elegant shopfront but also a "carefully crafted interior using natural daylight". The clients are delighted by the quality of light, in contrast to the "darkened office" traditionally associated with dispensaries.
In overseas awards, Brady Mallalieu Architects scored for their open-air theatre in Barra Park, London, "aninstallation that combines finesse with function", as the jury said, while another went to O'Donnell and Tuomey for their "poetic evocation of place" (Letterfrack) in Ireland's Pavilion at last year's Venice Biennale.
Architect and critic Shane O'Toole was the commissioner for the Venice pavilion and it was announced last week that he is to be the curator of the Architectural Foundation of Ireland, which is being set up on foot of the Government's "Action on Architecture" policy. Its key role will be to promote the value of contemporary architecture to the public.
• The Irish Architecture Awards 2005 exhibition, sponsored by Roadstone, will open tomorrow at the Crawford Gallery, Cork, where it will run until July 9th before travelling to some 15 venues around Ireland
