Landscape Ireland- Spring 2008

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N u a c h t l i t i r O i f i g i ú i l I n s t i t i ú i d A i litirí Tírdhreacha na hÉireann, Earrach 20 0 8

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LANDSCAPE

LANDSCAPE Ireland is the official journal of the Irish Landscape Institute.

The Irish Landscape Institute is the representative body for Landscape professionals in Ireland. The Irish Landscape Institute is affiliated to the European Foundation for Landscape Architecture (EFLA).

C O N T E N T S P 04 News & Events

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Editorial: Irish Landscape Institute PO Box 11068 Dublin 2

P 11 Reflections of Philip Shipman

Ph + 353 1 6627409 Email ili@irishlandscapeinstitute.com

P 17 John Roberts Square

visit

R E G U L A R S

P 08 Omagh Bombing Memorial

www.irishlandscapeinstitute.com

Editorial Committee: Mark Boyle Daibhí Mac Domhnaill Daithí O’Troithigh Mette Roesgaard

P 24 On Location: Granada

All rights reserved. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Irish Landscape Institute or the editorial committee

P 26 On Location: Potzdammer Platz

Cover Montage: Father Collins Park wind turbines and man reading newspaper in John Roberts Sq Waterfford, by D. Mac Domhnaill

P 28 Classifieds

P 07 An t-Eagarthóir

The Official Journal of the Irish Landscape Institute, Summer 2007

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W i n d t u rbines in Fr . Collins Park The Father Collins Park project is the largest urban park development in Ireland. The design was selected through an international competition in 2003 and the winning designers were Ar Arq. from Argentina.

Since then the winners have teamed up with local consultants to advance the design, undertake tendering and commence management of the works on site which began in September 2007. The good run of weather last autumn has advanced the works by the main contractors (Liffey Development Ltd.) to schedule and the iconic array of wind turbines are the latest element of the scheme to arrive on site. The wind turbines will provide a substantial component of the parks energy needs and it is also envisaged that electrical powered park vehicles may also be deployed for maintenance in the surrounding neighbourhood.

photo by K O’’Neill MILI

I L I E x hibition 2008 To celebrate World Landscape Architecture month, the Irish Landscape Insitute will be hosting:

The exhibition curators will select the best submisisons (6-10) for inclusion in the exhibit.

An Exhibition of Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Ireland

Criteria for selection will be as follows: - Completed projects of a high standard of design and execution.

- Landscape management strategies and regimes that exemplify best practice in regard to Innovation and sustainability.

- Theoretical projects.

- Landscape planning and urban design projects.

- All submissions must be of an excellent standard of graphic presentation approprlate to an open exhibition - Photography if used should be of high quality, resolution and definition.

The exhibition will run from April 21st-25th and April 28th - May 2nd, in the Atrium of Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin.

The exhibition aims to showcase the best of landscape design, managment, research and innovation within Ireland for the general public. Highlights of the exhibit will be Father Collins Park and the competition winning entry to the Adamstown Park competition by Foley Salles. The exhibition will also include displays on ILI Design Award winning projects from the previous 10 years, including; Henry St Dublin and John Roberts Square.

Submissions to the exhibition are invited from landscape architects, managers and researchers practicing in Ireland.

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Exhibitors will be limited to a single A0 panel in portrait format per project. To be conisdered for exhibition candidates must send a low resolution (max 6.0mbs) version of their board as a .pdf to the following email address: ili@irishlandscapeinstitute. com no later than 5.00pm on Friday March 14th, 2008. There are no application fees.

Iris oifigiúil Institiúid Ailitirí Tírdhreacha na hÉireann, Earrach 2008

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F ol e y & Salles win Adamstown Competiti on

Perspective of Airlie Park; by kind permisson of Foley & Salles

The international competition to design two large parks in Adamstown has been won by Foley & Salles. The design competition was successfully administered by the Irish Landscape Institute on behalf of the developer Chartridge. The budget for the two parks is €11 million.

Foley & Salles Landscape Architects is a joint venture between Dermot Foley Landscape Architects and Remi Salles Landscape Architects. Both practices are based in Dublin while Remi Salles Landscape Architects have an additional studio in Bordeaux.

Remi and Dermot have also been teaching at the UCD School of Architecture Landscape & Civil Engineering for several years.

“The Adamstown Parks Competition was an ideal opportunity for both practices to form a joint venture. The complementary mix of talent and experience has been used to create an exciting design for Tandy’s Lane Park and Airlie Park, which highlights the unique character of each park and, at the same time, locates and defines the parks in the wider public realm context of the Adamstown Special Development Zone”; Dermot Foley.

The Adamstown development involves the delivery of an entire town. Located in west Dublin just 15 minutes by train from Dublin City Centre, Adamstown provides sustainable, high quality housing, along with public transport infrastructure (including a Rail Station), schools (2 Primary and 1 Secondary School), and a Sports & Leisure Centre with swimming pool. A new town centre is also currently being planned.

The brief for the competition was to design parks of a high contemporary standard and quality which would provide recreational amenities, stimuli and excitement for young and old residents, and visitors to Adamstown. Linkage to existing

hinterland, incorporation of existing site features, creation of formal and passive recreation facilities and accessibility and convenience to the exterior circulation system were also important elements of the brief.

The judging panel for the competition comprised judges from the Developers and South Dublin County Council along with the internationally renowned landscape expert from France Christine Dalnoky and Robert Camlin of Camlin Lonsdale.

“The winning scheme showed the largest amount of design development over the competition period and is most in tune with the Adamstown Masterplan. It deploys a clever hierarchy of routes and public spaces with entry points and associated uses linked to the masterplan’s intentions. Its geometry is gentle, but responsive and acknowledges the full variety of routes, uses and residential types around the edges of both parks. The spatial organisation and clarity of the project contains a strong, legible structure, easily understandable and yet diverse. This structure is composed of trees, routes and the manipulation of ground plane – all easily achievable. The strength of the scheme allows for diversity and interchangeability of materials making the project realisable. The developed scheme offers a consistency of design in terms of line, datum and materials which is very reassuring; the consistency of built and planting language allows both parks to be viewed together, but for each to tell a different story “ Eddie Conroy, Senior Architect, South Dublin County Council It is expected construction on the Parks will commence later in 2008, once Planning Permission has been granted.

The Official Journal of the Irish Landscape Institute, Spring 2008

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Retirement of Michael Lynch

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by Kevin Halpenny Micheal Lynch recently retired from his position as head of the Parks Division of Fingal County Council after a professional career that spanned almost 37 years. Throughout his career Michael, a Fellow of the Irish Landscape Institute, has been a pioneer in his field. He has been instrumental in having open space and outdoor recreation provision accepted as a fundamental part of proper planning. Having joined Dublin County Council in 1971 Michael set about using the limited planning legislation then available and in particular the then new County Development Plan procedures to acquire land for open space. In the period between 1971 and 1993 Michael pursued and oversaw the acquisition of over 7,800 acres (3,100 Ha.) of open space. This includes some 15 Regional Parks several of which represent some of the most important heritage landscapes in the Dublin Region. The creation of these parks has had the additional benefit of providing protection and sustainable uses for important heritage buildings; including Malahide and Ardgillan Castle, Marlay Park, Cabinteely Park and Newbridge Demesne. Michael has brought his diverse interests in areas such as Industrial Heritage, Biodiversity and Archaeology to bear in a very creative way in his work. His insistence on high standards of open space design and development has made a significant contribution to the landscape professions.

Kevin Halpenny is a Senior Executive Parks Superintendent with Fingal County Council

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Michael Lynch FILI at his retirement ‘Get-together’ at Malahide Castle

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February 27; ILI Professional Practice Exams Seminar, Newstead Building, University College Dublin.

March 6 - 26; Exhibition of ‘Line to surface’ Ireland at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2007, Ballymun Civic Centre, Dublin April 21 - 25 & April 28 - May 2; ILI Exhibition, Atrium of Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin.

For furt her detail see : www.irishlandscapeinsti tu te.c om/events-calender

Iris oifigiúil Institiúid Ailitirí Tírdhreacha na hÉireann, Earrach 2008

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An t-Eagarthóir Taking a lead ...

An tEagarthóir is the anxious worrisome type, with hair grey as a worn carpet, spending listless hours awake at night, imagining blank columns, horrified by unfulfilled deadlines and the spectre of empty promises. An tEagarthóir is also the self help type and in a lucid moment of calm reflection some months ago conceived a theme for a Spring issue. A theme that would surely spark numerous imaginations and bountifully overflow the pages of our humble periodical. An tEagarthóir’s genius stroke was to reach out from the lofty heights of the capital city to our provincial bretheren ‘Beyond the Pale’; having proposed to dedicate an entire issue to Landscape Architecture outside of the Greater Dublin Area. We called, but alas no one responded, the Bruce Springsteen song Radio Nowhere became the sound track to more sleepless nights; “is there anybody alive out there … is there anybody alive out there”.

However where there is patience, there is reward; and where there is commitment, success; and slowly the contents of the Spring 2008 issue trickled together and is presented to the reader under the loose assemblage of: Taking a Lead.

We begin by introducing the first instalment of Reflections; a regular feature where we meet with the esteemed leaders and pioneers of the Landscape profession in Ireland. Appropriately our first reflections are those of Philip Shipman, who as a landscape architect arrived in 1960s Ireland riding shotgun like a true pioneer. Philip was a landscape professional practicing in Ireland before there was a profession, the practice he co-founded Brady Shipman Martin predates the Irish landscape Institute by over two decades. Philip fondly recalls being “helped by the fact that many of the things we were being asked to do were ‘firsts’ for Ireland and there were great personal challenges in working out how to approach a project, matching that with the restricted resources and trying to achieve an acceptance from clients for whom the services of a landscape architect was unfamiliar”. In celebrating the contribution of Philip Shipman to landscape architecture in Ireland we acknowledge a deep thinker, a gifted designer and above all an immensely kind and amicable colleague and person.

Precedent On one of the scarce sunny days last summer Polish landscape photographer Ewa Cieslikowska documented John Roberts Square in Waterford City. Completed in 1999 this vibrant urban space designed by Bernard Seymour Landscape Architects has matured with magnificence. It is a place and space much loved by the people of Waterford. The success of the scheme is perhaps its modesty and deference to the bubbling life of the city. Yet the

signature of the designer is still etched in the exquisite bespoke granite benches hewn and carved from solid blocks. John Roberts Square represents a time when as a nation we began to reinvest in the public realm of our city centres and landscape architects such as Bernard Seymour and Gerry Mitchell took a lead in that renaissance.

Courage Taking a lead requires above all else courage. The competition winning entry for the Omagh Memorial by landscape architect Desmond Fitzgerald and artist Sean Hillen represents exceptional courage. Courage to give physical manifestation to the mourning and remembrance of an horrific tragedy. Memorialising an event of such magnitude in the course of Irish history, an event so fresh in the memory is an endeavour fraught with difficulty, perhaps thankless, as no memorial offers sufficient consolation to such suffering. The winning proposal is an intelligent articulation of reflection and light, a theme that matches the spirit of the brief and successfully eschews historically loaded symbols.

Collaboration Each generation has it heroes, in the success of Foley & Salles in the competition for two new parks in Adamstown we are perhaps witnessing the emergence of the next generation of thought and design leaders. The collaboration between Dubliner Dermot Foley and Dublin based Frenchman Remi Salles was an intelligent teaming of talents and resources which allowed the young designers to compete at this level. It may in itself be the great innovation of this project in demonstrating how small Irish based practices can compete with the best internationally.

Pushing the agenda Wind turbines in a suburban park, as in the new Fr. Collins Park in Baldoyle could be viewed as a competition winning gimmick or prescient brilliance. But why not generate wind energy in the city?

Why not grow food in the city, or fuel? Landscape architecture is a discipline with an uncanny ability to occupy the in-between spaces, the voids, the edges and margins, a discipline transcending scales from regional and metropolitan to the minute. The challenge for the present generation of landscape architects is to build on the achievement of their forbears and take an even greater lead in the processes of urbanisation and land management. In a future where energy and raw materials become ever scarcer, the abilities, knowledge and integrated view of landscape architects will become ever more valuable in resolving stark problems and balancing the counter tensions of resource capacity and modern consumption.

T h e O f f i c i a l J o u r n a l o f t h e I r i s h L a n d s c a p e I n s t i t u t e , S p r i n g 2 0 0 8 0 7P 7

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model view of the memorial garden and sculpture at the blast site

Desmond Fitzgerald Landscape Architects and artist Sean Hillen, have won an open competition to design a memorial garden to commemorate the victims of the Omagh Bombing. The competition brief called for a design that would link two locations - the bomb site and a memorial garden some 200 metres away.

The approach to the memorial garden is to create a “Garden of Light” gently glittering and sparking as it collects, reflects and distributes the sunlight. The garden consists of lines of small mirrors arrayed around a reflecting pool, backed up by a grassy bank planted with silver birches and wildflowers.

A mirror in the memorial garden tracks the sun, pouring constant beams of sunlight onto 31 small mirrors one for each of those killed by the bomb. The small mirrors are arranged to carry the light to a heart-shaped sculpture located at the site of the explosion, a place which is almost constantly in the shade.

The heart shaped sculpture will be of cut-glass crystal and will give the illusion of floating inside a pillar of glass. The heart will sparkle and glitter with the light.

to be a meditative space. A space not fenced off from the street but retaining a strong sense of quiet enclosure, achieved in part by a change in level. The design language of the garden resonates with the austerity of Great War memorials.

The garden will be paved in light granite flag stones with grass and fragrant herbs such as thyme and camomile growing through the joints. The palette of planting is restrained - silver birch (a pioneer species in disturbed land) and grassy banks which will include swathes of bluebells in spring and poppies in summer.

Despite requiring changes in level the garden will be universally accessible. The granite flags at stepped areas are designed to double as casual seating.

Open paved spaces around the pool and at the southern end of the site allow people to gather for ceremonies and commemoration.

The layout of the garden space is governed by the need for a clear light path to the memorial. Thus any tree planting can only be located to the north and east of the site. This in turn ensures that the sun will penetrate the park when it is most appreciated - from late morning through to the evening.

The garden also takes its cue from the concept of “REFLECTION”; P8

Iris oifigiúil Institiúid Ailitirí Tírdhreacha na hÉireann, Earrach 2008

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above: perspective view of the memorial garden

right: model view of the memorial garden

Seán Hillen is an artist and is best known for his series ‘Irelantis’; a collection of scalpel and glue collages influenced by the famous picture postcards of John Hinde (www.seanhillen.com).

Desmond Fitzgerald is a landscape architect and architect based in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin (www.dfitzarchitects.ie).

below left: 31 small mirrors in the memorial garden right: cut glass crtystal sculpure at the blast site

The Official Journal of the Irish Landscape Institute, Spring 2008

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Iris oifigiúil Institiúid Ailitirí Tírdhreacha na hÉireann, Earrach 2008

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Re f l e c t i o n s :

Philip Shipman Reflections is a new regular feature where Landscape Ireland meet with esteemed landscape professionals that have made significant and valuable contributions in the field of landscape design, research and management within Ireland. In the first of the series we meet Philip Shipman; founding partner of Brady Shipman Martin. Philip is a Fellow of the Irish Landscape Institute and was presented with a Lifetime Acheivement Award by the ILI in 2007. The folllowing article is based on the transcripts of an interview with Philip in Novemeber 2007.

I applied to the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) for a scholarship and received a modest one for the first year and a slightly better one for the second, which all helped to keep body and soul together. The landscape programme was run by Ian McHarg who was influential in raising issues of ecological determinism in the planning and design of the built environment. He later went on to publish ‘Design by Nature’ a great pioneering work at the time.

Studying under McHarg was a great experience, expanding our perceptions of the scope and breadth of landscape design.

Early Years I grew up in England and studied architecture as so many landscape architects have, graduating in 1958 from The Regent Street Polytechnic in London. After graduating I worked for a few months in the Housing Section of London County Council. It was here that I developed a greater awareness of the importance of public realm design.

During the first weeks of the course a German tutor had us in a studio in New York City learning how to dance as weeping Willows trees amongst other things. This for up tight architects was quite a shock. The design studio threw us together with students from others backgrounds and traditions. I remember one of our early studio projects was to design a dream house and landscape. The architects as you’d expect designed very precise, predictable designs while the non-architects were far more expressive and imaginative. That project set the tone for the course, which was such a mind opener. One of the core lecture series was called ‘Man and Environment’, which included lectures from theologians, natural historians, astronomers, biologists, bio-chemists etc. It was a great education in a very real sense and literally opened up a whole new world for us.

As was typical of the time many of us were looking across the Atlantic as a destination to widen our experiences through work, study and adventure. An architect called Michael Roberts who had worked in the Housing Section had studied landscape architecture in the U.S. was back on holidays and encouraged me to apply for courses there. Later by chance one morning commuting into London on the train I met an American and his family. In conversation I said to him how I was considering studying in the United States. He generously offered to sponsor me for a visa, and good to his word he did.

After Penn I graduated in 1961. While many of my colleagues headed off to California to work with the likes of Lawrence Halprin, I trod the

Glendalough Visitor Centre, County Wicklow, Ireland

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former path of an Irish landscape architect Jim Fehily who had graduated from Penn the year before I started and had worked for Dan Kiley before returning to Ireland. I applied for a job with Dan Kiley who ran his practice from Vermont and ended up working with him for four and a half years.

leave both the office and the Vermont environment. However, the practice was so dependant on Dan’s unique personality and set up it was not the opportunity for expansion, opening new offices or handing out partnerships. It was a very special experience, which you took, enjoyed and then moved on.

It was an absolutely whacky office, with an international mix of people, usually around ten in number. Kiley was a real maverick; one time ski instructor, a part time farmer, thinker and a designer.

We we’re doing projects all over the US, as Dan had established strong relationships with many of the leading architects who seemed to like the idea of this wild man coming down from the hills of Vermont and contributing to their projects. During my time in the office some of the personal highlights were working with Skidmore Owings Merrilll on a large industrial campus, and the office of Eero Saarinen on the Ford Foundation Building in Manhattan and the Oakland Museum in California. Kevin Roche whose name is familiar again in Dublin was a principal in the Saarinen office at the time. While working and travelling to many parts of the States it was wonderful to come back to the idyllic environment of the Kiley property on the shore of Lake Champlain. Part of the office was in a timber shack right by the water where in winter one could spend almost as much time chopping logs for the stove as one did at the drawing board.

I hit the road for two and a half months, travelling coast to coast and back again with a tent .It was a great trip but I learnt that in travelling for so long you can get to a point where you just can’t absorb any more. I remember my visit to the Grand Canyon towards the end of my trip being such an anti-climax for me – just a big, big hole in the ground ! I must return one day and do it justice.

Dan Kiley was a bit of a renaissance type man and this was reflected in his generally formalized designs He had a great sense for what the appropriate scale of a project should be and believed more in simplicity of treatment than complexity. Working with Dan was a great experience and I was very reluctant to

Dan Kiley in 1966

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Ireland I returned to London in 1966, but couldn’t settle. I was mentally on my way back to the US when Jim Fehily (who later became Professor of Planning in UCD) offered me a job. Jim was the only landscape architect in private practice in Ireland at that time, which he operated in conjunction with his architectural work.

He was about to commence work on a substantial landscape planning project dealing with the Killarney Lakes and the establishment of what is now the Killinarney National Park, and through this project I was initiated into the delights and planning challenges of the Irish rural landscape It was while working with Jim that I met Hugh Brady and Arthur Martin, both of whom were architects who had returned from the States where they had studied urban and regional planning.

Another landscape architect to arrive on the scene at that time

Fountain Place Dallas, by Dan Kiley

Iris oifigiúil Institiúid Ailitirí Tírdhreacha na hÉireann, Earrach 2008

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was Niall Hyde who was working with An Forás Forbartha, an agency set up with UN funding to assist the Irish government in developing its planning and environmental services, as at that time Ireland was ranked as an undeveloped nation. Also on assignment there was Michael Dower, whose father had been instrumental in the setting up of the National Parks in the UK. Michael was following in his footsteps and he was very influential in opening up the thinking on landscape planning and rural recreation issues at that time.

During the 1960’s a lot of money was being invested in developing the tourism industry in Ireland and within An Foras Forbartha there was some consideration being given to undertaking a comprehensive study of coastal tourism and recreation resources. Niall Hyde with Hugh, Arthur and I put together a proposal to undertake a national coastline study, a key selling point being that there was such a skills shortage at that time that the likelihood of assembling a team of two planners and two landscape architects again was very slight indeed.

National Coastline Study The study brief at its simplest was to assess the coastline and to recommend by zones or stretches the limits of development and conservation along it. It was a daunting task as no one in Europe had undertaken a project of that scale and complexity before.

We undertook a pilot study on the Cork and Kerry coastlines which took about six months as much of the survey work had to be undertaken in the middle of winter. The technology at the time was very limited; the only maps we had to work on were the Ordnance Surveys maps at one mile (1.6km) per inch (25mm). which were enlarged x3 for field assessment and survey records.

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The O.S. maps were not up to date in terms of roads and urban development but we we’re amazed at their overall accuracy and graphic quality. Aerial photographic coverage was minimal and of poor definition.

A field survey technique evolved and broke down into assessing the visual characteristics, physical characteristics and land use / economic characteristics. The subject area typically covered the area between the shoreline and the nearest road to the coast or from the shoreline to the nearest ridge. Of course by this definition the width of the coastal corridor varied tremendously.

The most challenging aspect of this project was how to measure what we termed the capability of the coastline to accommodate a wide range of recreation uses and to absorb development, particularly in relation to tourism. (Bord Fáilte1 was one of the commissioning clients).

The study took two years from beginning to publication. Two of us would go out in the field, one to drive the other recording. We would spend a week in the field and a week back in the office plotting all the information gathered on maps, all by hand of course. Drafting alone was an enormous task. At the end of the field assessment stage we hired a plane in order to survey the stretches of the coastline inaccessible by road. It was interesting that the flatter parts of the coastline with their agricultural field patterns and river estuaries were often the most interesting to view from the air.

When all the baseline information had been gathered we had to devise a scoring system for the theoretical capacity of the coastline to carry certain land uses. A system that may have 1

Bord Fáilte was the Tourism Authority for Ireland, which today is known as Tourism Ireland.

Boathouse proposal

Urban renewal proposal

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been crude yet it could be consistently applied across the entire coastline. Our methodology for capability scoring was influenced at the time by some large scale landscape assessment studies undertaken by the Canadian National Parks Service We produced summary maps on a regional basis, recommending policies for conservation and development. These were then adopted by some of the local authorities into their Development Plans and for years afterwards the coastline study was often presented as evidence in planning appeals. I think it was a remarkable project for its time. The only other country to have attempted a study like this had been New Zealand. It would be very interesting to revisit this study today and view the changes since 1960’s.

It was after the coastline study that Arthur Martin, Hugh Brady and I set up Brady Shipman Martin (BSM) as a Landscape Architecture and Planning practice. Even though all three of us we’re architects by primary training we decided not to practice architecture then. This was so as not to be seen as a threat by the architects and engineers that we hoped would be our clients.

At the time people were very sceptical of the prospects of us earning a living in private practice. Most large scale planning studies were being undertaken by UK consultants or An Foras Forbartha. The coastline study of course had been a great introduction for us to all the coastal local authorities and slowly work came in through these contacts. Of the three partners I was the only landscape architect. Initially the landscape architecture work was predominantly soft works and planting design for architects and engineers. There was always a flow of work, but the fees we’re very modest and it was a pretty meagre living for

the first few years. Unlike today there were never the budgets to implement large projects. Not seeing projects implemented was and is always very frustrating.

At the time there was considerable grant aiding of tourism developments. We would be commissioned as planners to assess some of the schemes proposed, and to write development guidelines for such ‘products’ as caravan and camping parks. We undertook a major study of the Shannon River and its potential for tourism and recreation. Bord Fáilte during the 60’s and 70’s had an environmental brief and in collaboration with other state agencies such as the Office of Public Works, the Department of Forestry2 and local authorities were active in commissioning architects, planners and landscape architects to prepare policy plans for some key heritage sites, such as Clonmacnoise and developing a few major projects, such as Lough Key Forest Park designed by Jim Fehily.

We were similarly commissioned by the Office of Public Works to study the Glendalough Valley and its recreation pressures and to assess the potential for a visitor centre. From the initial planning study the project evolved into a site planning study for the visitor centre and eventually the design of the visitor centre itself. By this time we had already re-engaged with architecture and had designed and completed the Trabolgan Holiday Centre in east Cork.

We have always had people from outside Ireland working for us as initially the Irish graduates were seldom available. In the early years we looked towards Northern Ireland for professional companionship.

By the late 60’s there were numerous job 2

Today Lough Key Forest Park is owned and managed by Coillte which is a State owned commercial company operating in forestry, land based businesses, renewable energy and panel products.

Irish Life Centre, roof garden, Dublin, Ireland

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Iris oifigiúil Institiúid Ailitirí Tírdhreacha na hÉireann, Earrach 2008

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opportunities for landscape architects in the Housing Executive3 and in the Craigavon Development Commission4. I was one of the founding members and early Chairman of an Irish Chapter of the U.K. Landscape Institute, with members from both sides of the border We would have our committee meetings near the border or alternatively between Belfast and Dublin. We cooperated with the landscape contractors who had formed ALCI5 to establish specifications for landscape works. We held annual conferences and rotated the venue between north and south and despite’ the troubles’ there was great camaraderie amongst us.

What brought this arrangement to an end was the formation of the European Federation of Landscape Architects and the need for separate representation of the Republic of Ireland at European level. So that led to the founding of a separate Irish Institute of Landscape Architects. We later merged with the Institute of Landscape Horticulture of Ireland to form the present day Irish Landscape Institute. Yet it’s a shame that the coming together and camaraderie that existed between the landscape professions north and south of the border has largely dissipated.

39 years of success Next year will see the 40th anniversary of the establishment of BSM. A key ingredient of our success has been the mix of compatible people within the practice who have been able to work alongside each other day in and day out yet still remain friends. We’ve always run an open office and have encouraged our staff to contribute at whatever level they feel comfortable.

We have placed an emphasis on the quality of presentation and taken pride in the craftsmanship of graphics in its own right.

Looking back I can see we were helped by the fact that many of the things we were being asked to do were ‘firsts’ for Ireland

University of Limerick - aerial perspective by P Shipman

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and there were great personal challenges in working out how to approach a project, matching that with the restricted resources and trying to achieve an acceptance from clients for whom the services of a landscape architect was unfamiliar.

For me some of the projects I have gotten the most satisfaction from have been the University of Limerick where we have been involved at both master plan and project level since the early 70’s, the larger industrial scale projects such as power generating stations and landscape impacts studies where one is dealing with extensive and very particular qualities of landscape.

At a more detail level I also feel the Glendalough Visitor Centre, whilst not a radical design, has matured into the setting and has been well managed by the Office of Public Works to serve the hundreds of thousands who visit Glendalough each year.

Landscape Architecture Today I think the standard of landscape architecture today is generally very good, greatly enhanced by the technology which now aids the production side of it. However I sometimes feel this technology can all too easily reduce early design analysis and discussion. Personally I can never analyse or design without a pen or pencil in my hand and I feel the technology can sometimes short circuit this process and freeze things too early. With the easy availability of images and reference materials it is also now very easy to build up a palette of treatments, which can in turn generate a ready made way of designing that can be superficial and placeless.

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The Northern Ireland Housing Executive was established by the UK government in 1970 to provide and manage housing within Northern Ireland 4 Craigavon Development Commission was established in 1965 to develop the ‘New City’ of Craigavon.

5 ALCI; Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland

University of Limerick - Library & Information Services Building

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Ireland today Its great to see such a young society with relative prosperity, but I do somewhat regret that the rooted-ness of things is being lost, a trend of course which permeates all aspects of our lives. We have become so internationalised so quickly and the traditional Irish identity is becoming blurred. We have evolved quickly from a small scale economy to doing things in a big way. Our transport systems are a prime example, where for a long time things in Ireland would creak along, but now we are in a major process of overhauling the road and rail networks, all in the space of a few years.

With the recent growth in world demand for food we have in the space of a few years gone from agricultural surpluses to shortages. We seem to be entering into a period where farming activity will again be a major economic use. It will be interesting to see in ten years time, when the oil crisis really begins to bite, the impact this will have on the rural lifestyle which is so heavily dependant on the car. The rural landscape will always reflect the economic situation at a given period and it remains to be seen how agricultural diversification, changes in forest production, bio fuel crops and the increasing demand for recreation pursuits will ultimately shape it.

University of Limerick - Dromroe Village student housing

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Landscape architecture in Ireland Our design work must be relevant to what society really needs and must address larger environmental concerns. We have become such an urbanised society that landscape architects must be fully involved in the planning and management of the built environment. Landscape architects have a very integrated view of the built environment and can be leaders not just participants in the planning and design fields.

I’ve always loved the craft side of the work, drawing and being able to understand what I’m looking at. I often suggest to student landscape architects starting out to draw, draw, draw; it’s a great aid to developing visual observation skills. With so much emphasis on computer generated presentation it’s interesting that despite all the reams of highly rendered CAD drawings floating round the table at a meeting it’s often the simple, to the point, freehand sketches and diagrams that say it all or catch the eye.

Philip Shipman in 2008 I am still working part time in particular at the University of Limerick and on occasional, hand graphics design input into a few other projects. Outside of work I’m now finding time for painting which is something I always wanted to do.

University of Limerick - Living Bridge by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and ARUP Consulting Engineers

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Project Profile:

John Roberts Square

Photo by: Ewa Cieslikowska

John Roberts Square is considered to be the principal public square in Waterford City. It was named after the city’s most celebrated architect, John Roberts. It is triangular in plan and is formed from the convergence of Barronstrand Street, Broad Street and George’s Street. It is often colloquially referred to as Red Square a testament to the red concrete block pavers that surfaced the street before its refurbishment. This triangular area of urban space has a fall of four metres across the site and slopes downwards in the direction of the River Suir.

The redesign by Bernard Seymour Landscape Architects set out to simplify the arrangement of elements while enriching a public space that had become run down and neglected. A subtle treatment of the space was intended to produce a muted yet distinguished backdrop to the colourful and robust décor of the enclosing buildings consisting mainly of shopfronts, fast food restaurants and significantly the Catholic Cathedral. The project involved the full pedestrianisation of the square and the adjoining streets.

The sculptor Eileen MacDonagh had proposed an austere crystalline form in black Indian granite for the square and a

series of bespoke benches were produced in the same material.

The benches and sculpture were quarried in single pieces and then polished and finished on site at the quarry in India under the supervision of Eileen Mac Donogh. The same black granite used as an unpolished sett marks a lost natural watercourse, from which the crystalline sculpture extrudes. The rest of the square is paved in a white Portuguese granite.

The bollards and bins are of spare design, in stainless steel, while the lamp standards, at eight metres tall are unembellished, all were sourced from a French supplier. Ground lights are used to emphasise the sculpted relief work on the bench sides and create a pleasant night-time ambience. The trees (Quercus rubra) are grouped and set in trenches, which have been overlaid with a rigid honeycomb mesh infilled with yellow hoggin.

The scheme was substantially complete by Autumn 1999, with a formal opening the following spring and the challenge now remaining is one of long term maintenance. A series of public talks and walkabouts by members of the design team is providing a useful educational tool for explaining what lies behind such a scheme.

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City Square shopping centrel

John Roberts Square context plan

John Roberts Square, plan drawing

by Bernard Seymour Landscape Architects

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John Roberts Square before the refurbishment, photo by: B Seymour

“The very strong slope on the site was a major factor in determining the design of the sculpture. One approach would have been to build a platform to accommodate it but this would have a negative effect on the open aspect of the overall design we endeavoured to achieve. The sculpture is designed to lean into the slope and is set directly onto the street.

Where it comes into contact with the ground it is heavily undercut on two faces giving it an appearance of lightness and providing a surface onto which the water gushes. Water wells up around the base of the sculpture and is drained directly back into a sump, filtered and recycled. The benches are carved from the same stone and the objective in designing these was to intervene as minimally as possible and yet create some interest in what was otherwise a solid rectangular block of granite. The positive aspect of this project from my point of view is that I was involved from the beginning, collaborating with the design team from the outset lead to a much better overall resolution.” by sculptor Eileen MacDonagh

John Roberts Square in 2007, looking south from Barronstrand St, photo by: Ewa Cieslikowska

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View of crystaline sculpture dark granite steps in foreground, photo by: Ewa Cieslikowska

View looking north towards George’s St, with black granite benches in the foreground, photo by: Ewa Cieslikowska

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View under the lines of Oak trees, set in yellow hoggin photo by: Ewa Cieslikowska

Close up view of bespoke black granite benches, photo by: Ewa Cieslikowska

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left and below; close up view of crystaline black granite sculpture, photo by: Ewa Cieslikowska

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The Generalife garden, Granada

View of Granada from the Alhambra

On Location:

Elegance and Granduer in Granada

by Birgitte Nagel Larsen This summer I travelled to Granada in Andalusia, southern Spain to see and experience the breathtaking example of Islamic building and landscape architecture that is the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is located at the foot of Spain’s highest mountain range. What I was not prepared for, was the beautiful town of Granada, and the streetscape renewal scheme which has giftedly managed to merge the old and the new of Spanish culture and design.

The city of Granada is located at the confluences of the Darro and Genil Rivers where the old districts in the Albaicín and the Alhambra were founded, districts brimming with steep narrow

streets, beautiful nooks and crannies, artistic grandeur and marvelous manmade landscapes.

Granada is a great testimony to an ancient tradition of landscape architecture which has strongly influenced the modern regeneration of the two main streets of Granada, the main boulevard Avenida de la Constitucion and its extension Gran Via de Colon. Both streets have been revitalised and modernised through an upgrading of the pedestrian environment and for public transport with the construction of a new tramline.

The project was designed by the architect Alejandro Y Jesus Munoz.

Pedestrian Boulevard in the centre of Avenida de la Constitucion

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Tree pit on Gran via de Colon

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Historic Art-deco light fitting

Avenida de la Constitucion is a wide road, approximately 50metres wide from building to building. In the centre of the road is a pedestrian ‘boulevard’ lined with flowering, green and lush planters creating an oasis and safe haven for pedestrians between the car lanes; a small park in the centre of this vehicular axis. The sloping planting boxes ensure that sightlines across the road are un-interrupted while at the same time providing a buffer from the traffic.

Avenida de la Constitution meets Gran Via de Colon in a bend where the street narrows and the historic town becomes increasingly apparent. The Gran Via de Colon is 1 km long. A core objective of the renewal scheme was to create an unbroken pedestrian surface all the way to Plaza de Isabel la Católica, which means that even at road intersections the pedestrians have priority over cars.

The outstanding elements of this new streetscape are the tree pits and the lighting. The spectacularly designed cubist sculpture lights are inspired by the classical Art-deco Granada lamps that once lined the street. The black steel and the opaque glass of the fixture create an exquisite new feature for the street uniting both modern and historic themes. Traffic lights and litter bins are also of minimalist design and are black to match the lamps. The design of the tree pits along the road is similar to the design of the planters on Avenida de la Constitucion. Their sloping shapes create a kerb between the street and the footpath without interrupting the surface and become a sophisticated buffer between the pedestrians and the cars.

New light fitting

I went to Granada to see historic gardens and landscape architecture, but was so intrigued with how the town of Granada has taken these traditions from the Alhambra, and the streets and squares of the town, and gloriously transformed them into a modern expression, fitting the lifestyles and the design requirements of the 21st century.

Birgitte Nagel Larsen originally from Copenhagen, Denmark works as a landscape architect and urban designer with Murray Ó Laoire Architects in Dublin.

New light fitting at night

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On Location:

P otsdamer Platz – B e r l i n ’ s G r e a t I n t e r s e c t i on

by Vidhya Mohankumar At the time of its construction Potsdamer Platz was the largest building site in Europe, a first-of-its-kind platform for an ensemble of ‘starchitects’ and a near tabula rasa event. Largely completed in 1999 it was based on the competition winning entry by architects Hilmer & Sattler. Potsdamer Platz was always destined for the limelight.

Potzdamer Platz in 1945

Hilmer & Sattler’s entry paved the way for some progressive urban design by juxtaposing dense 35m high structures with adjoining squares orientated on the historical footprint of the area with a marked statement of landmark vertical high-rises. The entire quarter was then divided into parts for development with significant portions being bought out by the 2 commercial giants DaimlerChrysler and Sony. While Sony realized its European headquarters with a stellar landmark building by German-American architect Helmut Jahn, DaimlerChrysler commissioned Renzo Piano who did both the masterplan as well as architectural designs for a number of buildings on their lands including their corporate headquarters as well. Sir Richard Rogers, Arata Isozaki, Rafael Moneo and Hans Kollhoff are only some of the names that added more glitter to Potsdamer Platz’s architectural portfolio.

Multiple cinema screens, a concert hall, a film academy, a film museum, a theatre, a night club, a casino, numerous event spaces and of course an array of high end retail combined with fine dining and drink. The concoction for this new quarter is so obviously infused with a heightened awareness for the hedonist culture. The mixed use blocks of Parc Colonnades, the many elegantly designed corporate office blocks and the two metro stations serving the district complete this city within a city.

above and below: Marlene Dietrich Platz in 2007

The landscape detailing is impressive to say the least and lends itself effortlessly to animating the numerous alleys and squares, in particular the Marlene Dietrich Platz and the green space with the giant wippen/see-saws. Sunset brings on some spectacular exterior lighting in an attempt to keep up the animated outdoors or perhaps to enhance the glow of cosmopolitanism.

Potsdamer Platz began as a trading post where several country roads converged just outside Berlin’s old customs wall. The railway had first come to Berlin in 1838 and since the city authorities would not allow the new line to breach the customs wall it had to stop just short, at Potsdamer Platz, this kick-started the rapid transformation of the area into the bustling focal point for the city.

The heyday of Potsdamer Platz was in the 1920s and 1930s. By this time it had developed into the busiest traffic centers in all of Europe and the heart of Berlin’s nightlife. It represented the geographical centre of the city, the meeting place of five of its busiest streets in a star-shaped intersection deemed the transport hub of the entire continent. Europe’s first traffic lights were erected here on 20 October 1924.

Almost all of the buildings around Potsdamer Platz were turned to rubble by air

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covered plaza in the Sony Centre

raids and heavy artillery bombardment during World War II. When Berlin was divided into sectors by the occupying Allies at the end of the war the square found itself on the boundary between the American, British and Soviet sectors. With the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, along this intracity frontier, Potsdamer Platz found itself divided in two. What had once been a busy intersection had become desolate. The area would remain like this for the next 28 years.

Located in a metropolis such as Berlin, Potsdamer Platz effectively plays to the politics of universalism. To the child of globalization it appears as an idiosyncratic atlas, at once personal and universal.

Apart from retaining the original street pattern- wherein the 5 streets; Potsdamer Straße, Leipziger Straße, Bellevuestraße and the northern and southern portions of Königgrätzer Straße

crossed each other to create this historic space that was the heart of the metropolis - today’s Potsdamer Platz seems largely shorn of any direct historic or cultural associations. The many voices included here speak to each other in a directly confrontational way to present a simulacrum of globalization and power play.

Maybe it was intentional to provide catharsis to historic sentiments in a reverse psychology manner by not memorializing the space and instead making the most of an opportunity to regenerate 480,000sq.m of prime land within a metropolitan area to create a space that can truly speak to a global audience as a symbol for New Berlin.

For more on Potzdamer Platz read; Water in our Cities by Gerhard Hauber, Landscape Ireland Summer 2006

Born in India, Vidhya currently works as an architect & urban designer for Murray Ó Laoire Architects in Dublin. Apart from her professional interests Vidhya holds special interest in installation art and exploring the possibility of using it to both express and study aspects of urbanism.

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