New civic centre makes its mark in Athlone

Athlone's new Civic Centre has certainly made its mark in a town which has been an architectural backwater, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

There was an elderly woman on Dublingate Street in Athlone standing motionless and staring at the new Civic Centre, as if in a mild state of shock. But it turned out that she wasn't a detractor at all. Asked what she thought of the sparkling new building, she said it was "lovely".

Certainly, there's never been anything like this in Athlone. Though award-winning new civic centres have been springing up in Swords, Dooradoyle, Tullamore, Thurles and Naas, among other places, Athlone always seemed to be an architectural backwater, never quite making the grade.

One of the key driving forces behind these developments has been the idea of providing a "one-stop shop" for all council services, in line with the "Better Local Government" programme. The fact that they have also made important architecural statements is a welcome bonus for the public.

Latest to be occupied is Athlone's Civic Centre, designed by London-based Keith Williams Architects. It was conceived in late 2000, at the height of the "Celtic Tiger" boom, when it seemed as if there was unlimited money available for everything. And the cost was a relative snip at €17 million.

The original plan, back in the early 1990s, was to provide a new library beside the bridge over the River Shannon, on the site of the old Ritz cinema, designed in the 1930s by Michael Scott. But funding could not be found at the time, so the project was scrapped and the site developed for apartments.

The old library, on the west bank of the Shannon, has now been vacated and Keith Williams is doing a feasibility study for its future use, perhaps as an art gallery. It is dominated by St Peter and Paul's Roman Catholic church, an icon of Athlone, and lies just north of the town's impressive castle.

Where the new Civic Centre has been built, behind St Mary's Anglican church on Dublingate Street, was previously occupied by Athlone Town Council's old offices in a crudely extended arts-and-crafts house at a lower level beside the Prince of Wales Hotel, which has been re-done in a post-modern style.

Keith Williams Architects won the design commission after an open call and interview process which produced a shortlist that also included Dublin-based Grafton Architects and Shay Cleary Architects, which were both involved in the Group 91 consortium for Temple Bar, and London-based Brady Mallalieu.

As Williams explains, he wanted to create a building that would have something of the heavy masonry quality of St Peter and Paul's church, the Shannon bridge and Athlone Castle, but done in a completely contemporary way with all of its opes appearing to be scooped out of a solid block of stone.

The building is raised on a podium to bring it up to street level and the entire area in front paved in white concrete slabs dressed in local sandstone. Concrete benches topped by teak provide places to sit down and there's a hope that the church's awful concrete boundary wall will be replaced by railings.

At its edge, the piazza - as Williams calls it - is punctured by the remains of one of Athlone's old bastions. A missing piece is to be replicated in stainless steel, in line with the current practice of making interventions obvious to all. The consultant architect on the bastion's conservation is John Redmill.

One thing Keith Williams was very clear about from the start was that the building must have a dramatic entrance, so no one would be in any doubt which was the way in. That has certainly been achieved, with full height glazing recessed in the white Techcrete frame and a single set of revolving doors.

To the left of the atrium is a double-height public library with offices above and, to the right, across a terrazzo floor, is the "one-stop shop" for services provided by Athlone Town Council and Westmeath County Council, with the council chamber directly above it, accessed by a wide ceremonial staircase.

The front elevation, which faces south, had to be provided with some bris soleil to reduce glare on what seems in Ireland to be rare days when the sun shines strongly. They are not the usual clip-on units, but done in triangular sections of pre-cast Techcrete so they, too, look like slits in a concrete wall.

Inside, the atrium is three storeys high. The side walls are finished in a light pre-patinated plaster and the rear wall in shuttering plywood, painted a deep brown colour. Its most curious feature is an off-centre balcony at first-floor level with a glazed balustrade and thick sliding steel fire-door at the rear.

What might this balcony be used for? The architect says election results might be announced by a returning officer from this elevated position. Perhaps. One also wonders how often the windows of the council chamber will be rolled back for local politicians to address the populace in the piazza below.

As in the atrium and library, the ceiling of the chamber features exposed concrete beams with the addition here of a large oculus over the circular arrangement of seating for members of the town council, overlooked by a walnut-fronted public gallery. A press box has also been provided.

Offices are naturally ventilated, since there is no need for air-conditioning in Ireland, whatever estate agents might say. As in the Fingal, Dooradoyle and Tullamore projects, staff members can open a window if they want more air. Though mostly open-plan, there are more compartmented offices than planned.

The library has a special room at lower ground level to house the remarkable Aidan Heavey Collection, consisting of some 10,000 volumes, donated by an Athlone-born businessman. Also at this level is a crèche, with an enclosed outdoor area and rubberised flooring in all the colours of the rainbow.

Flashes of colour are also used in the public areas, notably in the red or purple armchairs. The reception desk is done in pre-cast concrete with a walnut working surface. And though the concrete work throughout is very fine, the desk was chipped in transit - just one more item on the snag list.

"When you say you're going to make a building out of concrete, everyone looks aghast, but you can actually make concrete look like marble," Mr Williams says.

From a distance, especially in sunlight, the Athlone Civic Centre looks as if it is made from Portland stone or its Portuguese equivalent, a "trompe l'oeil".

John Walsh, the town clerk, is delighted with the building, not least because it projects a more modern image for the council. It has also prompted Westmeath County Council to build a new headquarters for itself in Mullingar, the county town.

The Civic Centre has certainly made its mark in Athlone, a town which until recently had no real scale, apart from its landmark buildings. New developments, such as the shocking pink Radisson Hotel on the Shannon, are raising the scale of its river front and a much larger scheme is planned right beside the civic centre. Known as the Gallico development, this would provide a 150-bedroom hotel, more apartments, ground-floor retail units around a glazed internal plaza and car-parking for 1,150 cars. Designed by Dublin and Limerick-based architects Murray O'Laoire, it is currently going through the planning process.