The attractive water feature takes up a 1.5m change of level and is full of movement and interest. The central island provides ventilation for the car park, which is obscured by bamboo groves.
dlr LexIcon is a new public library for Dún Laoghaire designed to provide a new landmark between the town and coastline. The four-storey structure was built into the existing slope creating two ground floor areas and a pair of quieter upper levels that offer a mixture of both social and intimate spaces.
The building re-interprets the traditional idea of a library by delivering a cultural, modern building that encourages social and community interaction as rigorously as it facilitates enquiry and learning. The library will also house separate reading rooms, a junior library, an auditorium, a cafe, an art gallery, a history department with study spaces, as well as staff facilities.
While renewable sources provide the primary energy for the building, gas-fired and biomass fired boilers supply the heating.
Nine wind cowls provide ventilation from a passive system that uses the wind and the stack effect to generate fresh air and extract stale air to and from every room in the building.
It also provides for heat recovery and has been developed to harness natural wind currents to create air pressure sufficient to provide a plentiful and healthy fresh air supply with no energy cost.
The site chosen was Moran Park, a partially derelict public park with bowling green, running perpendicular to the coastline down an escarpment. The site was chosen because it was already owned by DLR CC and would link The Metals (Queens Road) on the busy seafront to the north with George’s Street, Dún Laoghaire’s main shopping street, to the south. Carr Cotter & Naessens, with a design by David Naessens, won the architecture competition in November 2007. In May 2009 DLR CC launched the public consultation required under Part 8 of the Planning & Development Regulations; a special development review meeting in November 2009 approved the plan by 22 votes to 3, rejecting Richard Boyd Barrett’s proposal to locate the library on Carlisle Pier. Sisk Group won the request for tender and began construction in April 2012. Thirteen 40-tonne concrete rafters constructed in County Offaly were each brought on site in a single night. The building was opened to the public for preview on Culture Night (19 September 2014) and Open House Dublin (19 October 2014) and opened for general use on 8 December 2014. The building won the 2014 Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland award categories Best Culture and Best Public Building.
Back in 2014 when I first photographed this garden I commented as follows: ‘I must admit that I was somewhat unimpressed if not totally disappointed by this garden now located in the grounds of Phibsboro Public Library. In my opinion the setting is not at all suitable and elements [the pool to name but one] appear to be missing from the prize winning garden. I suspect that little of this will remain in two or three years due to lack of maintenance and appropriate attention. Note: The water pump may need a service as it appears to be rather noisy.’
Today, 19 April 2023, it was in an acceptable condition but the water elements have been removed which is a pity especially as the garden is named ‘River Run’
The Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Show Garden, located at the library, won two awards at the Bloom Garden Festival in 2011. The garden won best in its category (small gardens) and a Bloom silver medal for small gardens. ‘River Run’ was designed by Dublin City Council Parks and Landscape Services to honour Dublin’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.
AN INTERESTING WATER FEATURE IN THE WATERFORD PEOPLES PARK
One thing that I have noticed in Ireland is that water features are never properly maintained and eventually they become non-water features. Unfortunately, when I photographed this a year later it was in very poor condition … hardly any water and lots of litter and branches within the pool area. But to be fair in 2017 it was in excellent condition and the water in the ball was clear.
In 1999, artist Tina O’Connell was commissioned to re-create a fountain on the same site as where there had been a Victorian style tiered fountain which had fallen into disrepair. Thus Tina’s contemporary sculpture is also a fully functioning fountain. After an extended period of research into the materials and of development ‘In-Visible’ was finally sited and fully installed in 2002.
‘In-Visible’ (2001) is a contemporary sculpture incorporating a water feature. Inspired by the connection between Waterford City and the world famous Waterford Glass industry, O’Connell’s work consists of a very large transparent acrylic sphere (2 metres in diameter), over which clear running water continuously flows, and which is positioned on a large, circular platform made from black Kilkenny marble. The work has been referred to locally as the ‘Orb Fountain’.
DONATED FOUNTAIN IN MEMORY OF JAMES A POWER INSIDE CASTLE STREET ENTRANCE TO DUBLIN CASTLE
This fountain is located immediately inside the Castle Street entrance to Dublin Castle and have never seen it mentioned in any tourist guide and I cannot determine why it was donated to the state. In fact I cannot find any details of James Power or Three Bridges House.
“This Fountain Was Donated By The Family Of James A. Power, Three Bridges House, Carrick-on-Suir, In His Memory, October 1988.”
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