From offices to grandstands, the judges of this year's Bank of Ireland Opus Architecture and Construction Awards were impressed with the standard of a number of commercial developments, reports Emma Cullinan
A good few commercial developments have won prizes in this year's Bank of Ireland Opus Architecture and Construction Awards including the Killanin Stand for the Galway races by EPR Architects; George's Court in Dublin 2 by KMD Architecture; and apartments in Hanover Quay, Dublin docklands, and at Thornwood in Blackrock, Co Dublin, by O'Mahony Pike Architects.
The heritage area did well, with the Shelbourne Hotel, Carton House Hotel and Spa and The Island Crematorium in Cork all winning awards.
There would have been more commercial winners but some of them fell off the shortlist when the judges visited the schemes. The Opus judges pride themselves on actually going to see the buildings, "to find out if a building is not only a striking piece of architecture, but also demonstrates high standards of workmanship", says chairman of the judges, Ciaran O'Connor (the other judges were Noel Dowley, FRIAI; Roger Dunwoody, CIF; Pearse Sutton, MD O'Connor Sutton Cronin Consulting; and John F (Barry) Supple, chairman of John F Supple Ltd).
The judges first looked at 160 presentations with photographs, drawings and written descriptions and then selected 32 of them to visit.
Of these 29 were awarded a "commended", "highly commended" or "winner" in various categories.
"The others fell by the wayside because, when we visited them, they didn't live up to their promise. In some of them the presentation photos oversold them and in other cases the drawings and graphics oversold them," says O'Connor.
"On some very large projects people had been put under too much pressure to do things quickly and there was a lack of finesse and level of detailing."
One of the smaller commercial project winners was the Fuse graphics studio by Box Architecture.
"This was an excellent piece of small scale work, shown in the way the architects manipulated the light and met the brief requirements of the owners, even though it was done on a shoestring," says O'Connor.
The judges were pleased at the number of heritage buildings that were being returned to Ireland in a good state.
Carton House Hotel and Spa by Murray O'Laoire and Pierse Contracting was one of these, even though the judges nearly didn't visit it because they felt the presentation was lacking.
WHEN they walked around it they "realised that the submissions had not done it justice. While there was a hotel bedroom addition we didn't like, the rest of it was very assured. The original old house is not in Ireland's top 10 but we did feel that a good part of our history had been well handled. Often the landscape in such projects is butchered but here it was treated well and such parkland is rare in the large houses of Ireland," says O'Connor.
The renovation of the Shelbourne Hotel has given Dublin back one of its landmarks in a positive way, says O'Connor.
The revamping of the grand old hotel had three architectural firms working on it and this award was given to Cantrell and Crowley Architects who dealt with the public spaces in the hotel.
"It is a well-considered scheme that has kept all of the essential bits," says O'Connor. "It is a project that could have been overdone and overdecorated if someone had got blood to the head about it being a five-star hotel."
THE Island Crematorium, on Rocky Island in Ringaskiddy by Magee Creedon Architects and Cornerstone Construction, "has a huge strength with its brick arches, like those by Louis Kahn, and is a great example of what can be done with a former gunpowder store," says O'Connor. The building was redeveloped by the Tipperary businessman Louis Ronan.
Two housing awards were given to O'Mahony Pike "a practice that has mastered that ability to do housing in an architectural manner. They have honed the skills over a number of years and that shows in the calibre of finish and level of detail and that is surprising in a building done by a developer. The fact that Hanover Quay met its social housing requirements was a plus," says O'Connor.
The judges were pleasantly surprised when they visited the offices at George's Court in Townsend Street, Dublin 2 by KMD Architecture and G&T Crampton Ltd. "The attention to detail is very good. Often that type of development is restricted by taking a one-suit-fits-all approach but this scheme went much further in providing flexibility. There was a lot of architectural effort put into the quality of finish internally. We felt some elements of the elevation were overmodelled but, in overall terms of addressing the problem, the result achieved was to a high standard," says O'Connor.
The Killanin Stand for the Galway races by EPR Architects and Michael McNamara was another project that went beyond expectations.
"It was done in a remarkably short period and is modern and well done. There were certain architectural issues but it was a step up from what is usual in such projects. It does what it does very well and is something beyond the normal. We were struck by that and the ability to deliver very efficiently at speed," says O'Connor.
A new Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Jim Barrett, who recently retired as Dublin City Architect. Before that he was Limerick City Architect.
The award winners will be on display at Plan Expo which takes place from November 8th-10th at the RDS (www.plan-expo.com)
