Pedestrianise College Green for 2016

Wild Bill · 10-07-2011 8:50pm

As I said; FF rural councillor, D4 'sophisticate' - same Irish thing.

Aard · 10-07-2011 9:52pm

Wild Bill wrote: »

As I said; FF rural councillor, D4 'sophisticate' - same Irish thing.

What do you mean by that?

Yillan · 11-07-2011 1:01pm

I see BOI are still refusing to sell their college green building to the state...

It's a little infuriating

Wild Bill · 11-07-2011 1:52pm

Aard wrote: »

What do you mean by that?

Both equally visually illiterate. As I said. Above. :cool:

donvito99 · 11-07-2011 2:48pm

Wild Bill wrote: »

Your photos indicate how sterile the area looked before the trees. Take a leaf from Paris.

The visual-aesthetic-deficit plagues the FF rural councillor and the D4 self-imagined sophisticate alike.

Those trees are what make that space. If anything, we need more of them.

:cool:

Trees grace Paris' grand boulevards - not their squares.

Grand Place, Brussels - NO trees
Trafalgar Sq, London - NO trees
Piazza Navona/ del Popolo, Rome - NO trees
...the list goes on.

We need more trees; on the quays in particular. We don't need them on a pedestrianised College Green.

Aard · 11-07-2011 3:08pm

Wild Bill wrote: »

Both equally visually illiterate. As I said. Above. :cool:

So you think that because I suggested bringing the buildings into view that that's "visual illiteracy"? Look, trees are great, don't get me wrong. But from a pedestrian's perspective and in this specific case, I think that it'd be better to be able to see Trinity from Dame St, and the Old Parliament from Grafton St. Heck, even put the trees on those streets themselves, but the square should be left clear.

dubhthach · 11-07-2011 3:12pm

Yillan wrote: »

I see BOI are still refusing to sell their college green building to the state...

It's a little infuriating

CPO (compulsory purchase order) could always solve that

bk · 11-07-2011 3:26pm

dubhthach wrote: »

CPO (compulsory purchase order) could always solve that

Even simpler, net BOI funding round includes it as a requirement.

Why we didn't include it as a requirement for previous funding rounds is beyond me.

Anyway, don't we own them by now?

mgmt · 11-07-2011 3:29pm

bk wrote: »

Even simpler, net BOI funding round includes it as a requirement.

Why we didn't include it as a requirement for previous funding rounds is beyond me.

Anyway, don't we own them by now?

We'll own them by the end of today. :mad:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/11/bankofireland-idUSL6E7IB0O420110711

seamus · 11-07-2011 3:32pm

Yillan wrote: »

I see BOI are still refusing to sell their college green building to the state...

It's a little infuriating

To be fair, they're not proposing that they sell it to anyone else either. I don't think there's a problem having BOI on a pedestrianised College Green and assuming that the building is subject to a preservation order, there aren't many other companies who would want it.

I'm divided on the issue of trees. The old photos of treeless Dublin look sterile and unfriendly. But I can also see the aesthetic appeal of having a grand view of trinity from central bank.

But an empty square with no furniture, is just that - an empty square. If it's not trees, then there's going to be statues or fountains or massive spikes or something.

bk · 11-07-2011 3:58pm

seamus wrote: »

But an empty square with no furniture, is just that - an empty square. If it's not trees, then there's going to be statues or fountains or massive spikes or something.

I think most people are assuming a nice new fountain or other architectural feature will be placed at the center of the square.

Cool Mo D · 11-07-2011 4:44pm

seamus wrote: »

To be fair, they're not proposing that they sell it to anyone else either. I don't think there's a problem having BOI on a pedestrianised College Green and assuming that the building is subject to a preservation order, there aren't many other companies who would want it.

I'm divided on the issue of trees. The old photos of treeless Dublin look sterile and unfriendly. But I can also see the aesthetic appeal of having a grand view of trinity from central bank.

But an empty square with no furniture, is just that - an empty square. If it's not trees, then there's going to be statues or fountains or massive spikes or something.

At the very least, BOI should open up both entrances of the building, including the Westmoreland street side, and open the branch on evenings and weekends, so that people have a chance to explore the building if they wish (and let people do some banking on the weekend too).
I think they run tours of the place on weekdays, they should have them on weekends too.

Plowman · 11-07-2011 5:12pm

This post has been deleted.

mgmt · 11-07-2011 5:26pm

Notice in those above images a large amount of the sun in College Green is blocked by the trees. Small trees have a place.

donvito99 · 11-07-2011 9:02pm

Green, natural things are fine so long as they do not impair sight lines and obstruct masterpieces. I feel those trees make that area far smaller and take away from the uniformity and neatness created by the Central Bnak and trinners.

mgmt · 11-07-2011 9:15pm

College Green Then (1961) and Now (2011)

[snip]

You should go through the site and see how trees have destroyed the views of Dublin's Landmarks.

http://www.photography.paul-walsh.net/landscape/Cushman/

Plowman · 11-07-2011 9:45pm

This post has been deleted.

Wild Bill · 11-07-2011 10:39pm

Plowman wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Not in the least.

The photos of the treeless 'squares' look sterile and bleak. The buildings are not "masterpieces"; just nice buildings.

The trees - THEY are masterpieces. :cool:

Wild Bill · 11-07-2011 10:44pm

If someone built those copies of Greek/Roman buildings today they be sniffely dismissed as "pastiche" by the poseurs.

But 'cos they were built 200 years ago, they are "masterpieces".

Couldn't make it up! :cool:

mgmt · 11-07-2011 11:51pm

Wild Bill wrote: »

If someone built those copies of Greek/Roman buildings today they be sniffely dismissed as "pastiche" by the poseurs.

But 'cos they were built 200 years ago, they are "masterpieces".

Couldn't make it up! :cool:

No they just look nice. I'd describe the Aviva Stadium as being a masterpiece too.

FreudianSlippers · 11-07-2011 11:59pm

Wild Bill wrote: »

If someone built those copies of Greek/Roman buildings today they be sniffely dismissed as "pastiche" by the poseurs.

But 'cos they were built 200 years ago, they are "masterpieces".

Couldn't make it up! :cool:

I think you're kidding yourself if you really don't think that Pearce and Gandon didn't create masterpieces, not to mention Trinity buildings which are considered quite architecturally meritorious.

paulm17781 · 12-07-2011 4:49pm

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

I think you're kidding yourself if you really don't think that Pearce and Gandon didn't create masterpieces

He's surely some form of troll, his posts for the last week are all that tone.

donvito99 · 12-07-2011 5:27pm

Wild Bill wrote: »

But 'cos they were built 200 years ago, they are "masterpieces".

Couldn't make it up! :cool:

So can we call any building a masterpiece, I'm certainly not basing it on age, I'm basing it relative other buildings in other countries of its time. Dublin was once rightly described as the second city of the Bristish Empire and that was for aesthetic not industrial reasons.

What would you describe as a masterpiece, or do you refuse to use the term in the same sentence as a building?

Pete_Cavan · 12-07-2011 6:30pm

Trees have no place on a pedestrianised College Green. They would only serve to take up space, block sunlight and obscure views. The place can be jazzed up with planter boxes, hanging baskets from lighting posts, etc. which would add colour but with more subtly.

Wild Bill · 12-07-2011 10:24pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Trees have no place on a pedestrianised College Green. They would only serve to take up space, block sunlight and obscure views. The place can be jazzed up with planter boxes, hanging baskets from lighting posts, etc. which would add colour but with more subtly.

Ugh! "planter boxes, hanging baskets from lighting posts" -That makes it sound like some tacky suburban shopping mall.

Trees don't block the view; they enhance it. The are a vital part of it. They give shade in Summer; seasonal variation to the grim cityscape and improve the atmosphere of the streets.

The buildings are just (fairly) pretty pastiche.

Aviva is indeed a masterpiece; and the TREES on Landsdowne enhance it. :cool:

Wild Bill · 12-07-2011 10:32pm

And Dublin was known as the "Second City" because it was at the time the second largest - not because it was regarded as pretty.

It has become pretty since extensive tree-planting in the streets commenced. But that's only recently.

As you can see from the old photos and drawings above, bleak would be a more accurate characterisation than "pretty" during the 1800s.

If I wasn't here this thread would be a taste-free zone. :cool:

Cathaoirleach · 12-07-2011 10:37pm

Not sure if trolling..

Aard · 12-07-2011 10:37pm

Wild Bill, as the only one competent enough to comment on taste, which squares around the world do you admire?

CdeP · 12-07-2011 10:51pm

Trees don't block the view; they enhance it. The are a vital part of it. They give shade in Summer; seasonal variation to the grim cityscape and improve the atmosphere of the streets.

The buildings are just (fairly) pretty pastiche.

Aviva is indeed a masterpiece; and the TREES on Landsdowne enhance it. :cool:

Shade from what? The trees need to go.

Also, as you seem to think that originality is essential if a building is to be considered a masterpiece, what's so original about the Aviva?

Wild Bill · 12-07-2011 11:21pm

Aard wrote: »

Wild Bill, as the only one competent enough to comment on taste, which squares around the world do you admire?

Merrion Square, Fitzwilliam Square, St. Stephens Green and The Square, Tallaght are local examples. Eyre Square in Galway is beautiful.

The People's Square in Shanghai is a foreign favourite - there are so many though.

Azadi Square in Tehran is amazing; though not really square.

Merdeka Square in Jakarta is pleasant and Zion Square in Jerusalem is interesting even if more of the Irish scale.

In Europe, Place du Luxembourg in Brussels is cool.

Dam Square in Amsterdam was, like College Green a treeless prison until after WW2 but the trees have brought out it's beauty; created it even.

Red Square, Moscow of course - maybe the best of the lot.

OK, St Marks in Venice is obviously top class but it could do with some trees; but they can't survive the sea-water flooding and salty water table.

In London many of the Squares are pretty soulless (even ugly) but Leicester Square is a beautiful exception; though I also like that wee square behind Big Ben were the anti-war folk gather.

Pedestrianise College Green for 2016

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