URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION

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DUBLIN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES

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10 BURLINGTON ROAD

I must admit that I have never paid much attention to this building until I realised that it was home to the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) School of Theoretical Physics.

In April 2021 two Modern Movement buildings of the early 1970s were added to the Record of Protected Structures. One of these is no. 24 St Stephen’s Green by Michael Scott and Partners; the other is the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) School of Theoretical Physics at no. 10 Burlington Road by Stephenson Gibney & Associates.

The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dublin.

The institute consists of three schools: the School of Theoretical Physics, the School of Cosmic Physics and the School of Celtic Studies. The directors of these schools are, as of 2022, Professor Denjoe O’Connor, Professor Tom Ray and Professor Ruairí Ó hUiginn. The institute, under its governing act, is empowered to “train students in methods of advanced research” but does not itself award degrees; graduate students working under the supervision of Institute researchers can, with the agreement of the governing board of the appropriate school, be registered for a higher degree in any university worldwide.

Following a comprehensive review of the higher education sector and its institutions, conducted by the Higher Education Authority for the Minister for Education and Skills in 2013, DIAS was approved to remain an independent institute carrying out fundamental research. It appointed a new CEO, Dr Eucharia Meehan, formerly director of the Irish Research Council, in the summer of 2017.

After becoming Taoiseach in 1937, Éamon de Valera investigated the possibility of setting up an institute of higher learning. De Valera was aware of the decline of the Dunsink Observatory, where Sir William Rowan Hamilton and others had held the position of Royal Astronomer of Ireland. Following meetings with prominent academics in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, he came to the conclusion that astronomy at Dunsink should be revived and an institute for higher learning should be established. The institute was and is modelled on the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, which was founded in 1930, and theoretical physics was still the research subject in 1940. The School of Celtic Studies owes its founding to the importance de Valera accorded to the Irish language. He considered it a vital element in the makeup of the nation, and therefore important that the nation should have a place of higher learning devoted to this subject.

DIAS was founded on the direction of the Taoiseach, under the Institute for Advanced Studies Act, 1940 As set out in its legislation, ‘the functions of the Institute shall be to provide facilities for the furtherance of advanced study and the conduct of research in specialised branches of knowledge and for the publication of results of advanced study and research.’

Welcome
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THE JOKER’S CHAIR IS A MEMORIAL TO DERMOT MORGAN

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BEST KNOWN AS FATHER TED

In 2002, Dermot Morgan’s partner commissioned Galway-born sculptor Catherine Greene to design and produce a memorial statue.

Already a celebrity in Ireland, Morgan got his big break in Britain with Channel 4’s Irish sitcom Father Ted, which ran for three series from 1995 to 1998. Writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews auditioned many actors for the title role, but Morgan’s enthusiasm won him the part.

Father Ted focuses on the misadventures of three morally dubious Irish Catholic priests, whose transgressions have caused them to be exiled to the fictional Craggy Island, off the coast of County Galway.

RED CARDINAL BY JOHN BURKE

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MUCH BETTER THAN OTHER METAL YOKES

In the past I have joked about the excessive number of red metal sculptures on the island Ireland and that many people often refer to them as “red metal yokes” but this sculpture is in a different league as it has artistic merit.

When I first saw this I thought that it was named “Red Cardinal” because of the colour but when I saw the captured images today I realised that it looks like a Mitre [headdress]. In the Catholic Church, ecclesial law gives the right to use the mitre and other pontifical insignia (crosier, pectoral cross, and ring) to bishops, abbots, cardinals, and those canonically equivalent to diocesan bishops who do not receive episcopal ordination.

The red steel sculpture “Red Cardinal” was designed by John Burke. It was erected in 1978 on the James Street side of the Bank of Ireland in Baggot Street Lower.

John Burke (11 May 1946 – 11 December 2006)

Burke studied at the Crawford School of Art and Design in Cork and at the Royal Academy of London. He spent most of his career in the Cork area and for a time taught at Crawford, where his students included Eilis O’Connell and Vivienne Roche.

Burke was a founding member of Aosdána in 1981.

Note: Yoke. In Irish slang, the word ‘yoke’ doesn’t have anything to do with eggs. Instead, it’s another way of saying ‘thing’. So if someone in Ireland sees an object that they’ve never seen before, they will commonly be heard to ask, ‘What’s that yoke there?

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YELLOW METAL SCULPTURE AT MIESIAN PLAZA

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GEOMETRIC REFLECTIONS BY MICHAEL BULFIN

The plaza contains the sculptures Reflections by Michael Bulfin and Red Cardinal by John Burke.

Miesian Plaza (formerly known as the Bank of Ireland Headquarters) is an office building complex on Lower Baggot Street, Dublin. It is designed in the International Style, inspired by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, particularly his Seagram Building.

It was designed by the firm Scott Tallon Walker, one of the founders of which, Robin Walker, studied under and taught with Mies van der Rohe, though the building was chiefly designed by partner, Ronnie Tallon. Dublin City Council described it as “one of the most important Modernist buildings in Ireland” and “Dublin’s finest example of the restrained and elegant Miesian style”, and its facade and plaza are protected structures.

Miesian Plaza includes three buildings of four, five, and eight storeys in height, with a central plaza. The two shorter buildings are adjacent to Lower Baggot Street with the 8-story building behind them, minimising its towering effect on the street.

The complex’s facade and plaza were listed as protected structures in 2010. The facade is identical to that on Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building.

Michael Bulfin (born 1939) is an Irish sculptor and visual artist, based in Dublin. He is the son of Irish republican Éamonn Bulfin and grandson of William Bulfin of Derrinlough, Birr, County Offaly. He was educated at University College Dublin and Yale University, Connecticut, USA. He was awarded a German Government Scholarship in 1965 to study at a research laboratory in Hamburg, Germany, German Academic Exchange Service (Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst DAAD). He was chairman of the Project Arts Centre and the Sculptors Society of Ireland, and is a member of Aosdána.

His notable works include Reflections (1975) at the former Bank of Ireland Headquarters on Baggot Street, Dublin, A Walk Among Stone (1988) at Ballymun Flats (the sculpture and flats both since demolished), and Sky Train (2002) at Sculpture in the Parklands.

PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART LEINSTER STREET SOUTH

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PHOTOGRAPHED 18 MARCH 2023

I learn something new every day. I thought that this example of paint-a-box street art was located on Nassau Street but it is actually on South Leinster Street which I have been unaware of until today.

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