Kildare Civic Offices

Where in Naas is this?

Not sure if this link will work…. It is on the site of the former Devoy Barracks… if you’re coming from dublin.. turn right at the junction off the main st in Naas just at the other end of the town.. before the junction for the hospital…. it’s on your left.

http://www.roskavanagh.com/php/user_system.php?action=search_results&start_at=0&2=&job_id=764

when did you take those photos shadow? because I was at the aai site visit about a month ago and it looked more finished than in those photos you posted.

It’s right next door to the Osprey hotel – follow this link to the map to get to the hotel http://www.osprey.ie/hotel/map.htm

I stand corrected actually I didn’t look close enough the first photo is at the back and the second photo shows the glass screen with green triangles screenprinted /solar screen devive is completely up on the building on the left which was only stated at the rear when I was there. I wonder whats the predicted time scale of the rest of the build( I’m sure it was said at the site visit but my memory being as goog as it is and all)?

“The new civic offices in Naas for Kildare County Council have been officially opened.”

has anyone any photos of this finished? ive only seen renders of it i believe this is their first built building?

i’ve driven by it at night when the whole thing was lit up and it looks great. i’ll take a couple of shots next time i pass it.

New era of transparency at Kildare civic offices

Ruadhán Mac Eoin, The Irish Times, Fri 13th Jan 2005.

The new civic offices in Naas for Kildare County Council have been officially opened.

The building was designed by Dublin-based Heneghan Peng architects, who have come to international prominence for other designs, including the Grand Museum of Egypt in Cairo and the new Giant’s Causeway visitor centre.

At a cost of €58 million, the scheme is built on part of the former site of Devoy Barracks and occupies nearly three hectares (seven acres). It will accommodate 450 staff.
A €500,000 grant allowed for such features as solar panels on the roof for heating water and an internal water recycling scheme.

Intelligent design basics include maximising natural light to illuminate the interior and using natural ventilation so that air conditioning is not required.

The car park features porous paving which means that no drains are required.

After 2½ years of construction, council staff can now vacate the old fever hospital.

The new building has distinguishing features both in visual aspect and function.

Stating that the “design approach is unique”, the council has opted for two parallel four-storey, rectangular glass and steel blocks with tilting walls. The intention is to play on continuing the topography of the surrounding landscape.

The theme of extending the outside into the interior is also reflected in the transparent green screens that cover the buildings – part of what the architects describe as “continuity between public garden and public enclosed space”.

This reflects the architects’ intention that the design be a metaphor of how local democracy should have transparency as a key component and that “openness to all the people of Kildare was fundamental to the building’s concept”.

The aspect of accessibility is continued throughout the building as both able-bodied people and disabled experience the building similarly.

This is facilitated by the use of gently sloping ramps, rather than stairs, which “float” in an atrium that links the two parallel blocks.

The project hopes to set a new template for sustainable and environmentally sound corporate architecture in Ireland, and it has been awarded the highest grant to date given to one project by Sustainable Energy Ireland.

Adjacent to the exterior of the offices is an amphitheatre set against the Georgian clock tower building, a remnant of the former barracks. It is intended that concerts and performances will be held here in summer.

What’s it like? Looks nice in the images I have seen of it, but how is it in real life?

Phil, it’s up there with the top five buildings in Ireland since Busaras, it’s that attractive.I’d go to Naas just to view it every week if I could.By the way, Naas is a fine example of a well preserved Irish provincial town, it’s got some great shop-fronts and buildings, full credit to Naas civic people for a wonderful town. I hadn’t passed through it since the 80’s.

I’ve been out to the Naas office a few times in recent weeks. It’s a marmite of a building, but I think it looks well.

As for Naas being a well preserved town. An board pleanla just granted a shopping centre for main street, but keeping original facades. Alot of work like that in Naas over the years.

He never said it was, he said top five since busaras

some pics… http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/kildare/naas/araskildara.html

it’s a stunning building. i’m waiting for an excuse to go in there during working hours.

We’re not calling it shite so that automatically places it high on any list since Busaras.

Seriously though, I wouldn’t even want to critically analyse this thing right now. Like any art, first impressions are what makes it, you walk past it or you don’t, you will turn your head to look or you won’t.

I enjoyed looking at it, it’s a joy to behold, the whole concept, and it’s flawed, but I like my favourite architecture flawed.

@sw101 wrote:

some pics… http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/kildare/naas/araskildara.html

it’s a stunning building. i’m waiting for an excuse to go in there during working hours.

I was sent out to Aras Cil Dara last tuesday, handy errand seeing as this thread popped back up

its looks dark grey….
well with a hint of green what does it look like on a sunny day?

this building looks fantastic. None of the photos do it any justice because there is not one angle that captures it.

In person it looks a great, on a par with busaras, no question

Thanks for the imput Shaun (and everyone else). I must go and have a look for myself at some stage.

It looks a bit miserable to me. It’s out in the countryside and yet it looks really corporate and grey as if it belongs in a city.

Maybe it’s just the photos though. When I heard about it first(my Dad described it to me!) I thought it sounded so exciting.

Are you gonna shoot me now?!

@Maud wrote:

It looks a bit miserable to me. It’s out in the countryside and yet it looks really corporate and grey as if it belongs in a city.

Maybe it’s just the photos though. When I heard about it first(my Dad described it to me!) I thought it sounded so exciting.

Are you gonna shoot me now?!

no but go take a look at it , photos don’t do it justice.

It’s not total country out in Naas town, i know its not quite dublin city, but i think it will fill fit in even better in a few years. Nass has alot of large decelopments in the pipelines. Such as a shopping centre on main street, this will incourage even more “city architecture”. I for one would be more than happy if future buildings in the area were this creative.

@Maud wrote:

It looks a bit miserable to me. It’s out in the countryside and yet it looks really corporate and grey as if it belongs in a city.

Maybe it’s just the photos though. When I heard about it first(my Dad described it to me!) I thought it sounded so exciting.

Are you gonna shoot me now?!

as bren said, it’s not in a rural setting. not by any stretch of the imagination (i’m assuming you’re not familiar with naas). go have a look, walk around it then walk again with a camera in your hand and snap any element or angle that you find interesting. i think you’ll find it to be an education.

I bloody am familiar with Naas and it really annoys me that some people would want ‘City-type’ developments in Co. Kildare. That is completely inappropriate and disgusts me. I wish people would have a bit more imagination. I realise that in reality the building might be very impressive but to me it looks like just another boring steel and glass structure. Bland.

Yes Maud, a gigantic bungalow would have been a more appropriate choice.

Oh for goodness sake!

The new Tate modern building(as shown alongside the Kildare civic offices on this website!) would be more appropriate in my opinion because it is organic and does not appear to be corporate and typically city type architecture.

I know that the Kildare offices look amazing when they are lit up at night with the green light shining through them but I don’t think that is enough to make it a satisfying building(for me). I’m sorry for losing my patience but I’m just honestly bored with that type of thing. It depresses me a bit. It’s just all the same on the face of it. But then I’m prone to feeling miserable about things so maybe it’s just me!

I have to agree with Maud. I went to school in Naas, and grew up in Ballymore Eustace – 8 miles away. It’s a heap of rubbish. Many “Architects” these days have a strange idea of just what the imaginative faculty is. There seems to be no effort. The practice’s requirement for project management, technical cleverness (?) and grand-scale seem to have taken over. Do any of them actually DRAW anymore? Do they actually ever go fora walk and notice their surroundings – I’m thinking particularly of the countryside. Do they look at art? I realise that there is more to architecture than what the thing looks like from the outside (or am I being overly charitable?) but I actually wondered if it were collapsing. How will the inhabitants and locals feel when they see that great mass in mid-skew. Yes, yes, clever – like Liebeskind – computers are great aren’t they?

Look, it’s a box, a basic box, but seemingly lacking the supports to stop it falling over. I suppose the visitor expects a vertical horizontal box like any other and is delighted by it’s quirky defiant leaning. (It’s not just lens distortion that I’m seeing is it?). Unimaginative, corporate, macho and inhuman. The architects will probably like to stress the ‘human’ and ‘organic’ aspects of it’s flexible-looking fluidity or some such nonesense. They’ll probably even say its parallelogram look is inspired by local shale rock strata etc etc. Yes, you can say anything can’t you? Sometimes people believe it. “Those fellahs went to buildin’ school – dey know what dey’re talking about – we’re just country folk”. I will say that it looks better than the ugly hospital extension Naas put up in the 80s but that’s saying nothing. I could go on but this is a dial-up connection and that building isn’t worth the money I’ll have to spend going on…

We need a radical overhaul of how architectre is taught here. Even just from the point of view of the profusion of minimalist/Mondrian-esque things that the practices seem to spewing out all over our country.

“It’s a heap of rubbish.”

“I actually wondered if it were collapsing”

“it’s a box, a basic box”

Just a selection of comments that show a total lack of knowledge or experience of the building. I hate it when people spew forth invective about things that they know nothing about.

BTH, I hate people who know nothing criticising art too. I’m afraid that’s the world we live in, people use their own eyes to make their own judgements, based honestly on what they feel and believe.

I think art (of which this is not a good example) should be honest – once it’s honest peole will see it. I also prefer that it be beautiful, which is subjective but most people see through or just get bored eventually with imitation.

If what the public – who haven’t necessarily gone to Architecture School – only got that which is decided by the elitists and never challenged it, we’d possibly be living in some sort of fascist architectural landscape or or one built purely from glass, steel or plastic. I imagine even the elitists would got bored and move onto the next thing eventually too.

Johniwhite, the phrase “facist architectural landscape” immediately makes me think of gaudy, garish bungalows sitting above the roads that run through the countryside in Ireland.

BTW, Ballymore Eustace is a gem of a village.Architecture from different periods mark the landscape around the place, think of the market house in Dunlavin, or the pollaphuca dam buildings, Russborough house etc., it’s a great mix, and the Kildare civic offices are on that list now, representing the 2000’s.

johniwhite, correct me if i am wrong, but some of your comments suggest that you have not seen this building outside of photos. I suggest you do as they do not do it justice. You asked if architects care about the inside of buildings, have you seen the inside of this one. And its not just a slanty box. Go and have a look for yourself, walk around it. You’ll probably still hate it, but you’ll have a better reason

Bren, I’ll have a look next time I’m in Naas.

Shaun, the White Bungalows dotted all over Kildare & Wicklow wouldn’t strike me as Fascist – horrible yes. At least they’re humanisable in some fashion – with effort from the owners, though it doesn’t save the land around Valleymount and Ballymore. Corporate HQs often are not humanisable: rather they dehumanise and demoralise the people in them whilst elevating the egos of the people who built and commissioned them. Ballymore is under threat from a developer who wanted to build 500 new houses in a 60 acre field – doubling teh village population. Not to help out the locals mind, just to make more money. A local businessman also wants to put an industrial park there too. I believe it’s the same guy who has a dump accross the road from the national school. BME is lovely but it takes a lot of effort by a few locals to keep it that way.

John

http://www.riai.ie/gallery.html?type=regional&item=3

I came across some more pics and explaination of this building… im still trying to get over its severity, and of similar Heneghan Peng projects.

the building looks different lit up like that, the text describes the building creating a civic space among its wings, and if its like the grass bowl at the dublin offices(hidden and underused as it is), it might be very welcoming atlhough it looks little more exposed. I presuming the civic space is in the foreground of rhe first picture as the second picture shows quite a narrow space although that might be a distorted photo.

Also those photos show more of it in relation to the town is it in the centre of the town? Are the the event ramps, an atrium like area for civic receptions etc

What about all this angular stuff, I hope its form and function like the Ghurkin building, I wonder if there much less light on the downward facing side…

@lostexpectation wrote:

http://www.riai.ie/gallery.html?type=regional&item=3

I came across some more pics and explaination of this building… im still trying to get over its severity, and of similar Heneghan Peng projects.

the building looks different lit up like that, the text describes the building creating a civic space among its wings, and if its like the grass bowl at the dublin offices(hidden and underused as it is), it might be very welcoming atlhough it looks little more exposed. I presuming the civic space is in the foreground of rhe first picture as the second picture shows quite a narrow space although that might be a distorted photo.

Also those photos show more of it in relation to the town is it in the centre of the town? Are the the event ramps, an atrium like area for civic receptions etc

What about all this angular stuff, I hope its form and function like the Ghurkin building, I wonder if there much less light on the downward facing side…

The second picture is infact a close up of the first pcture, it appears narrower because the glass walls are the rain screens, they appear rather pale in the first picture. The walkway passes under neath these and is missing from the pic

it is not surprising that this new building is not apreciated by everybody , as henghen and peng moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the bland miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
ground

@shadow wrote:

BTH, way off beam, you don’t have to be an initiate to “understand” or “appreciate” the finer aspects of architecture. This building is far from being the epitome of Architecture with a big A unless A stands for Attitude or possibly Ambition. However with every Ambition there must be the means by which this might be attained or at least attempted. Too much of this building looks like it wasn’t even on the radar let alone in the office. In case there is a response, yes I have seen it, up close inside and out……

@Bren88 wrote:

johniwhite, correct me if i am wrong, but some of your comments suggest that you have not seen this building outside of photos. I suggest you do as they do not do it justice. You asked if architects care about the inside of buildings, have you seen the inside of this one. And its not just a slanty box. Go and have a look for yourself, walk around it. You’ll probably still hate it, but you’ll have a better reason

Bren, this is exactly what I meant in my previous comment. I’m definitely not suggesting that an understanding of radical architecture is elitist or only open to people with architectural backgrounds. All I was saying is that I have a big problem with people severely criticizing a building that they have not even seen in the flesh. Obviously in shadow’s case his opinion is well considered and backed up with actual experience of the building. I don’t agree with his assessment of it’s merits but I respect his views!

I think that architecture, in general needs to be seen on site, as plans, photos, models, 3D graphics and sketchs rarely show a build ing its true light

The real problem i have with this project is its context.
It may have worked much better as a beautiful object in a field with its long axis actually pointing at something of note. Instead the axis now seems quite arbitrary pointing to the hotel behind and with the route between the two main buildings blocked to pedestrian by the ramp area.

On the other hand, it is a beautifully detailed and engineered building of great merit. Its just a shame the inventive detail did not follow further to deal with its urban context.

But this building has such an irregular plan, different people would see its direction in different ways. From visiting the building, i’d consider it to be pointing more towards the historic building on the same site. The remains of the barracks and archway. Hopefully these will be better taken care of now that the CC is in such close proximity.