URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION

Street Photography That Highlights Urban Life

buildings

WOOD QUAY CIVIC OFFICES AND NEARBY

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PHOTOGRAPHED USING AN iPHONE

The Wood Quay site was allocated as a proposed headquarters of Dublin City Council in the 1940s but construction did not begin until the early 1980s due to the discovery of the remains of the Viking city.

The monumental towers were built to a design by Sam Stephenson, whose original design included two more towers to the north-west. However the latter part of the design was shelved, with the later phase of the offices built to a design by Scott Tallon Walker in the late 1990s. A strong horizontal emphasis is created by recessed window strips, which articulate the facades.

The later connecting glass atrium to the centre provides a contrast to the solidity of the granite cladding, the combination of these materials characteristic of contemporary architecture. The building has continued in its original use and remains a controversial but focal point and landmark structure in the city.

THE WOOD QUAY WOODEN SCULPTURE BY MICHAEL WARREN

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FEBRUARY 2023

THE GATEWAY SCULPTURE WAS REMOVED BY PUBLIC DEMAND

I use an iPhone in order to avoid attracting attention and much to my surprise I am now encountering many who wish to be included in my photographs and my policy is not to edit them out.

The Wooden Sculpture ‘Wood Quay’ by Michael Warren outside the offices of Dublin City Council is meant to invoke the prow of a Viking longship.

I am not a fan of the wooden sculpture located outside Dublin City Civic Offices at Wood Quay but now that it has been painted black it looks much better when seen from the North side of the river.

Michael Warren (born 1950 in Gorey, County Wexford, Ireland) is an Irish sculptor who produces site-specific public art.

Inspired by Oisín Kelly, his art teacher at St Columba’s College, Michael Warren studied at Bath Academy of Art, at Trinity College, Dublin and, from 1971-75, at the Accademia di Brera in Milan. He now lives and works in Co. Wexford.

Michael’s Gateway, Corten sculpture, in Dún Laoghaire was less than popular with some local people calling for it to be removed and it was removed … I actually liked it.

At the northern entrance to the village of Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, is a sculpture by Michael Warren, depicting the thrones of the ancient seat of the Kings of South Leinster at Dinn Righ (The hill of the Kings). The Kings of Leinster lived near the village.

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