Meeting House Square, Temple Bar

Architrek Crampton Buildings, Asdill’s Row Temple Bar

The IAF’s Architreks are specially designed architecture activity sheets for families, full of observation games, sketching and quizzes that guide you along selected routes. Temple Bar is an area in city follow the centre, located between the and Dame Street. Explore architecture route... old and new, cultural buildings and public spaces with this Architrek!

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Draw or sketch Investigate

Use paper provided Create a structure

Make a rubbing Quiz time Four of the panels are unfinished. Can you draw additional scenes relating to hygiene (think COVID-19), or advertising in the city?

1 sunlight chambers advertising

Sunlight Chambers at the corner of Can you identify some of the Parliament Street and Essex Quay was activities illustrated in the panels? completed in 1905 as the Irish headquarters ...... of Lever Brothers (now Unilever). It was ...... designed by English architect Edward Ould...... Glazed ceramic friezes above the ground and first floor windows advertise ...... Sunlight soap. Think of this building as an The building itself is Italianate in style. advertisement – in the years before radio, ...... Sketch some of the unusual television or the internet – or a giant architectural details – such as the billboard or educational comic strip. It sits overhanging roof / eaves at the top on the corner of a busy junction, where (with the carved, figurative brackets), meets the quays, and is the porch canopy over the entrance ideally suited to be seen by the public. door or the different window designs on the three façades. Use the extra paper at the back 2 If you were making changes to project it, what might you do? arts centre ...... colour, surface, ...... material, texture ......

The Project Arts Centre was the first arts It is painted a striking blue. Why do centre in Ireland. It moved across several you think colour was chosen? sites in the city until it ended up here, in a ...... former printing works. The redevelopment ...... by Shay Cleary Architects was completed in 2000. Inside are two performance / theatre Think about the colours and materials of the spaces and a gallery space at ground level. buildings around the Project Arts Centre. Make some sketches on a separate sheet of paper. What is the most common material? ......

What are the most common colours? ...... Look at the façade. Can you complete the elevation drawing below?

How many windows are there? How many different surfaces and (some are made from glass block; one textures can you find? Make a window projects outwards like a bay window) rubbing of an interesting texture. Use the extra paper at the back ......

How many doors are there? ......

Why did the designers choose large sliding screens? ......

Is there anything unusual about the front of the building? ...... Can you guess how many people might fit in the square? Work out how many people might fit on one section of stone paving, and work it out from there......

How many cars do you think used to fit in here? Meeting House Square is used as a market at the weekends, and ...... sometimes for concerts or cinema screenings in the evenings. The back Is it quieter or noisier without cars? of the Ark (the red-brick building ...... to the east, with the big steel and copper screen) can open out as a There are now gates on all three entrances Are the umbrellas open or closed? stage for outdoor performances. to the square. Can you find all three ...... gates? Can you think of reasons why ...... these were added to the square? ...... Why do you think they were added to the space? ...... The fixed benches in the square are original to its ...... 1990s design. Draw one of the benches......

Can you guess the height of the umbrellas? Stand against one and try to work it out, using What unusual features do they have? 3 meeting house your height as a multiple...... square ...... measure + map, How many people might public space fit on one bench? Can you draw what the umbrellas ...... This space was used as a car park up until might look like open and closed? to its transformation in the 1990s by Use the extra paper at the back. Group 91 / Paul Keogh Architects. Recently Do you think they were four giant umbrellas have been installed meant to be moveable? (designed by Sean Harrington Architects)...... Draw the two handrails on either side. How do they differ?

This archway links Curved Street through to Meeting House Square. Can you work out how wide the laneway is? Use your body and extend your arms, or count the number of feet or hands across...... 4 pedestrian ...... archway circulation + movement Is it the same width at the top Can you see how the architects and bottom of the laneway? integrated art into the archway with a Group 91 / O’Toole Kelly + ...... project by artist Felim Egan (Untitled, Cogan Architects. 1996) by using glass insets that How many steps are there? glow at night? This artwork extends ...... on to the walls of Meeting House Square. Can you find its location there? Have you seen other artwork Can you see how the lighting on your trip around Temple Bar? is integrated in the design? 5 the ark – a cultural centre for Can you find the coloured mosaic tiles on the rear façade? children What do they show? Draw one of the designs. old + new, culture

Group 91/ Shane O’Toole Kelly and Michael Kelly Architects.

This building was originally a Presbyterian Meeting House (built in 1725), and later a printing works and warehouse. It now houses a theatre, gallery and workshops. The Ark has façades facing Eustace Street and Meeting House Square. To the back it has a stage that can open on to the square (after a design by Santiago Calatrava. He also designed two bridges in Dublin – the Bridge and the James Joyce Bridge). Draw the special detail at the ground level rear corner (right-hand side) of the building?

Adapting older buildings for new purposes is important – both in terms of our built heritage and sustainability. Can you identify any changes made to the original Georgian building from the front on Eustace Street? Look through the windows and see if you can see any modern interventions.

Using the extra paper at the back Draw the windows at the front façade Why do you think the on Eustace Street. How many panes architects designed this? of glass are there per window? ......

Why might the first floor What material do you think it is? windows be bigger? ...... 6 Look at the exterior. What function do the–former– you think the 12 vertical elements on the central bank four façades of the building have? structure + scale ...... This was designed by architect Sam ...... Stephenson of Stephenson Gibney & Associates, and completed in 1978 to Why do you think the windows are house the Central Bank of Ireland. This set back from the front façades? was a controversial building because of ...... its height and scale, generating a lot of ...... debate in the newspapers and media at the time. It was recently converted to Describe the public space in front of offices and other commercial uses. the building, facing on to Dame Street. What do you think was here before the building was constructed? ......

What activities are taking place in this space? What are its users doing? How many storeys high do you think the building is? ...... Can you draw the building and one of the nearby buildings at the ...... same scale, and show their comparative relationship? ......

Think about the kind of views you might get from the roof top of this building. Can you imagine the panorama you might see from up there and draw it? 7 In the 1990s Dublin City Council refurbished crampton the scheme. Take a look at the courtyard space. Can you see anything they might buildings have installed recently to help access housing, accessibility the apartments (say for wheelchair In the heart of Temple Bar is a housing users or people with buggies)? scheme dating from 1891, constructed ...... by the Dublin Artisans’ Dwelling ...... Company (DADC). At the time Temple Bar was an industrial quarter and the If you lived here, would you need a car? DADC provided workers’ housing (they ...... were also responsible for housing elsewhere in the city for example in Where would you leave your bikes? the Liberties and Stoneybatter)......

Would it be noisy at night-time? ......

Would you like to live here? ......

How have people taken over the space outside their front doors? Draw your favourite ‘front garden’ that you can see or sketch how residents are using the ground level courtyard.

This is a mixed-use development with retail units facing on to Crampton Quay. Look at the courtyard from Asdill’s Row. The apartments are on the first and second floors, accessed off the open balconies with cast-iron galleries. How many homes can you see from Asdill’s Row (count the front doors or chimneys)? ...... sketch sketch rubbing rubbing