The redesign of Cork's main street brings Barcelona socialism to the Leesiders, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor.
Where once pedestrians looked "bullied and harassed", now they are "kings and queens of their own domain". That's the verdict of the director of the Crawford Gallery in Cork, Peter Murray, on the remaking of the city's principal thoroughfare, St Patrick's Street - or "Pana", as local people call it.
Designed by Catalan architect Beth Gali, the €13 million project boasts that it "brings Barcelona socialism to Cork" by creating a new public realm for everyone.
And indeed it does. The footpaths are so broad in places that they qualify as plazas in their own right and the traffic has been reduced from four lanes to two.
No wonder it is being officially opened next Wednesday to mark European Car-Free Day. For St Patrick's Street is a much more lively place these days. Le Chateau, one of its oldest haunts, has outdoor tables - and not just for smokers. People want to be outside on sunny days enjoying the ambience of the street.
Gali won an international design competition in 1999 for her scheme because its asymmetrical treatment seemed the most appropriate for what is, after all, a very asymmetrical street. Until 1783, it was a river channel; the sideways flight of steps in front of Le Chateau is a remnant of those days.
One of the selling points of Gali's scheme was its emblematic galvanised steel lamp standards, which are more like lighting rigs. "People either love them or hate them, there's no in-between," says John Stapleton, the project engineer. Naturally, they come into their own at night, bathing the street in light.
The lamp standards are fixed on the eastern side and hinged on the west, where the pavement is much broader, so the lighting rods can be moved into different positions. Gali knows how to play this sort of performance, having worked in Paris, Berlin, Hanover, Malmö and Rotterdam, as well as Barcelona.
There is asymmetry everywhere. A footpath on one side, but none on the other - as if to remind motorists to be on their best behaviour - and the random pattern of the stone paving is so complex that each line had to be individually drawn and it "nearly drove the stonemasons mad", Stapleton recalls.
A 1.8-metre strip of pale granite from Spain (naturally) marks the edge of the eastern footpath, providing a zone for the lamp standards as well as bus shelters and outsized litter bins, all done in stainless steel. The bins are emptied three times a day and there was little sign of littering this week, contrary to recent reports.
Apart from Blanco Castello, the pale grey-and-white granite at its edge, the eastern footpath is paved in Rosa Porrino, a rich pink granite, randomly mixed with Kerry Red limestone. On the western side, Tezal grey granite and Azul Noche dark grey granite were thrown into the mix, giving it a patchwork quality.
To reinforce the separation of pedestrians and traffic, simple stainless-steel stands are used at different points along the edge of the footway; handily, they double as "stand-up seats" for jaded shoppers.
There are also stainless-steel bollards and broad stone seats to delineate the pedestrian zone.
The remnants of old Cork live on, too. Outside Zerep, sculptor Seamus Murphy's limestone piece from 1950, with "madraí" inscribed in Gaelic script, was intended to provide a water trough for stray dogs. It is interesting to speculate on what Murphy, author of Stone Mad, would make of its new surroundings.
French Church Street, which runs off St Patrick's Street to the west, has also been re-paved. But here, appropriately enough, red brick from France has been used and it has been laid diagonally to distinguish it from the main thoroughfare. Beth Gali didn't want to be accused of rolling out a carpet.
Cafés in Rory Gallagher Square, facing the very dated dark glass façade of Paul Street shopping centre, have tables out in front and, for a moment, you could imagine this was France. The area is being marketed as the Huguenot Quarter because it was where French Protestant refugees built a church in 1712.
Oliver Plunkett Street, to the east of St Patrick's Street, is also being re-paved to another Gali design in a separate project costing €4 million; it is due for completion next March. Here, Chinese granite is the main material for the footpath on one side and red brick on the other, with tarmacadam in between.
CITY MANAGER JOE Gavin explains that Cork City Council started out funding the renovation of St Patrick's Street from its own resources, though it eventually got half the money from the Department of the Environment for a scheme which city manager Joe Gavin sees as reflecting "the pride and spirit of Cork".
He believes that the remaking of St Patrick's Street, Oliver Plunkett Street and ultimately Grand Parade "is going to transform the city centre and give it an image of vibrancy and modernity". And he says it's already paying dividends, in terms of investment by shopkeepers in improving their premises.
The re-invention of the central retail zone has also encouraged developers with bigger ideas in mind.
Owen O'Callaghan, for example, is assembling a large site centred on Guy's printers in Cornmarket Street for a retail scheme, which hinges on relocating the Examiner group's offices and printing plant.
A €2 million pedestrian bridge is under construction between Kryl's Quay and Pope's Quay, linking the Cornmarket Street area with historic Shandon, on the north bank of the River Lee. It was designed by McGarry Ní Éanaigh Architects, who were also responsible for the Liffey Boardwalk in Dublin.
Though funding of €500,000 was obtained from the National Lottery's Millennium Fund back in 1999, following a design competition, it is only being spent now. Yet Cork has needed this new crossing for years because of the very long interval between the bridges at St Patrick's Street and North Main Street.
For people living in Shandon, many of whom walk to work, it will provide a welcome short-cut to the city centre. Using their experience with the boardwalk, the architects have provided a shockingly effective anti-slip surface of narrow resin beading on the deck of the new bridge, which has yet to be named.
One negative note: already the newly-laid stone paving on St Patrick's Street is spattered by chewing gum residue, just as Henry Street in Dublin was as each new section was completed.
However, there is a real sense in Cork now that the city is gearing up for its heady role as European Capital of Culture in 2005.