Pre-election fever gripped the Dublin suburb of Rathmines earlier this month when a bevy of actual and would-be public representatives turned up at a meeting to discuss plans for the area. Sylvia Thompson reports.
It was organised by the Rathmines Initiative, a group of local people keen to "reverse the decline of this well-known Dublin village". Politicians held forth on ways in which the fabric of Rathmines - sometimes dubbed bedsit-land - could be enhanced and the redevelopment of the swimming-pool is seen as crucial. "How this is developed will set the tone for a new civic quality for Rathmines," says Michael Kelly, architect and local resident. "We worked with the School of Architecture and produced a briefing document which Dublin City Council has adopted but we are concerned that they will go ahead with a public/private partnership model for the swimming-pool site which we don't believe is the best way to serve the community. Such a project will be developer-led and not planning-led. We want a public space with a sports hall and gymnasium alongside the swimming-pool." He cites the redevelopment of a the Markievicz swimming-pool (through public/private partnership), Townsend Street, in Dublin city centre, as an example of where the civic aspect of the building became completely hidden.
Reducing the number of fast-food outlets and replacing them with "quality" shops, softening the impact of traffic congestion with tree planting and restoring and bringing back into use Rathmines Town Hall are other plans the Rathmines Initiative has in mind for the area.
- Gardening enthusiasts in the Dublin area ready to hop on a bus or bicycle or jump in their car should take note that the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland is hosting an international gardening seminar from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. today in the New Student Centre Hall, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4. Late-comers will be welcomed at the seminar whose keynote speaker is the modern-day plant explorer, Dan Hinkley. A resident of Washington State in the US, where his Heronswood gardens are famous for their mail-order catalogues.
- Meanwhile, over in the National Botanic Gardens, Carl Dacus from the Dublin School of Horticulture will give a lecture beautifully entitled From the Land of the Lakes to the Valley of the Moon - a plantsman's travels through Chile on Thursday at 3.15 p.m. (tel: 01-8377596).
Wild Images - Illustrating the Natural World is a series of free lunchtime lectures which runs during May in the National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin. Aiming to show the varied media in which we see wildlife, the series features talks by a wildlife photographer, a filmmaker, a sculptor and an illustrator. Gordon D'Arcy, known for his line-drawing of Irish birds kicks off the season with his illustrated talk on Wednesday. Sculptor Patrick O'Hara will discuss his porcelain sculptures of plants on May 15th; Brown Bag Films will show an animated film about the story of the Giant Irish Deer on May 22nd; and underwater wildlife photographer Nigel Moyter will talk about shooting fish on May 29th. All lectures last 45 minutes and begin at 1 p.m. Tel: 01-6777444.
- The best of Irish architecture as judged by the Architecture Association of Ireland remains on exhibition at the OPW offices, 51 St Stephen's Green, Dublin, until May 1st. The projects on show include O'Donnell and Tuomey Architects transformative work on the Furniture College, Letterfrack, Co Galway, which won the highest accolade this year, a Downes Medal. A contemporary mews house off Percy Place, Ballsbridge, Dublin (Grafton Architects), a mainly residential scheme at the corner of Church Street and North King Street in Dublin (also by Grafton Architects) and the Liffey Boardwalk (McGarry Ní Eanaigh) in Dublin's city centre also received awards. Nine other projects received "special mentions". Frank McDonald, Environmental Correspondent of this newspaper, has criticised the small number of projects chosen for public exhibition this year - 11 per cent of a total of 121 projects. In The Irish Times earlier this month, he wrote: "How can the AAI itself defend this meanness given that the awards aim to encourage higher standards of contemporary architecture, recognise good work and inform the public of emerging trends?" Go along and judge for yourself. New Irish Architecture - AAI Awards 2002 is published by Gandon Editions (€20).
This interesting site from the Centre for Sustainable Design in Britain includes ideas for eco-design for cars, white goods, textiles and packaging. It also has an online bookshop, a free journal on sustainable products design and information on training courses, workshops and conferences.