south earl street

Marcus Donaghy

This settlement eschews the rhetoric of re-enacting a cityscape generated by an atavistic attachment to figure-ground maps borne out of superceded condition, and instead addresses frontally the accomodation of a densely packed assemblage of family apartments, the expression of which is muted and undidactic. The polemical expressiveness of the previous proposals has been exorcised (perhaps in the ingenuities visited on Temple Bar) and the building seems happy to settle into the city on its own unapologetic terms without proclaiming its staus as a model or showhouse for enlightened urban living. A dense aggregation of apartment types, it presents however a sober laconic and almost diffident face to the city. Most of all, the interest of this building is in the hints it gives of a realm beyond.

Marcus Donaghy is an architect.
photographs by Ros Kavanagh, Architect, Photographer.