London firm Terry Pawson Architects have completed a new gallery and theatre in Carlow, Ireland, which opened on Saturday.
The building, called VISUAL & the George Bernard Shaw Theatre, features a façade made of large panels of opaque glass on a concrete plinth.
The interior has a large gallery at its centre with smaller gallery spaces and a theatre arranged around it.
The architects won the contract in 2004 after entering an open competition organised by the Royal Institute of Architects Ireland.
See our previous story about houses designed by Terry Pawson Architects.
Photos are by Helene Binet.
Here’s some text from Terry Pawson Architects:
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VISUAL & the George Bernard Shaw Theatre, Carlow, Ireland
Terry Pawson Architects’ VISUAL & the George Bernard Shaw Theatre provides Ireland with a significant new arts space to showcase contemporary visual arts and theatre of national and international importance.
Unique to Ireland, the new building features an expansive gallery space with a ceiling height of 12m to accommodate large-scale sculpture and installation, the scale of which has not been easily accommodated in Ireland to date. Terry Pawson Architects won an open Royal Institute of Architects Ireland (RIAI) architectural competition for the contemporary arts centre in 2004.
The 3,726 sqm 3-storey building occupies a much larger footprint than the original competition proposal, a strategy which was made possible by the council’s approval to remove a neighbouring ruined stone wall. The larger site affords sufficient space for the two characters of the centre – the gallery and theatre – to be expressed and unified within one coherent form.
The building presents itself as an assembly of different sized volumes clad in opaque glass raised on a concrete plinth, with the largest gallery at its centre and smaller galleries and theatre spiralling around it. The muteness of the opaque glass harmonises with the neutral grey of the town’s local limestone. The glass provides a blank canvas to absorb natural light in the day and project more dynamic low-level lighting at night. During the day natural light filters into the main galleries creating a calm introspective environment conducive to the production and appreciation of visual art. At night the façade is illuminated, projecting a more exuberant glowing presence for the theatre and performance space.
Project Facts & Credits:
Location: St Patrick’s College, Old Dublin Road, Carlow
Gross External area: 4,679 sqm
Gross floor area: 3,726 sqm
Project value: €18 million
Construction value: €12.7 million
Architect: Terry Pawson Architects
Commissioning Client: Carlow County Council
Project Funding: Carlow County Council, Department of Arts Sport & Tourism
Structural Engineer: Arup, Dublin
Services Engineer: Arup, Dublin
Theatre Consultant: Theatre Project Consultants, London
Acoustician: Acoustic Dimensions, Coventry
Gallery Consultant: Bruce McAllister, Bembridge
Contractor: BAM (formerly Rohcon), Kill
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Posted by Sarah Housley
September 29th, 2009 at 5:03 am
look like David Chipperfield
September 29th, 2009 at 6:13 am
It looks familiar… something ive seen before…
September 29th, 2009 at 6:38 am
uuuummmm Steven Holl in Kansas City, anyone?
http://www.archdaily.com/4369/the-nelson-atkins-museum-of-art-steven-holl-architects/
September 29th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Reminds me a lot of the kunsthaus Bregenz by Zumthor!
September 29th, 2009 at 8:58 am
With no plans I can’t really say if this is a good or a bad project, but the blocks’ composition seems nice, it remind me a mixture between the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City by Steven Holl and the Extension of the Kunsthaus in Zurich by Chipperfield.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:49 am
http://www.outdooractive.com/de/magazin/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/museum-davos_mag.jpg
gigon guyer
September 29th, 2009 at 10:02 am
May I introduce you to.. Gigon & Guyer? Aside from that nice project though.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
This is very beaultiful… and very Chipperfield!
September 29th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
it’s beautiful, although a bit tributary to chipperfield’s language. i wish terry pawson find a way to differentiate his work, somehow. i look forward to other projects by terry pawson!
September 29th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Davos: Gigon Guyer
This is the Bjorn Again of Swiss mid 90s minimalism
Perfect first time round. The cover version is quite nice also.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
…even though i agree with the comments here saying that this looks like Chipperfields work, i hope Chipperfield tries now to look like this, cause this is much much much better than his!… ha!
September 30th, 2009 at 5:24 am
The architect has cladded the entire facade with opaque glass and yet the interior looks very heavy with lots of solid wall. Without showing any plans, one tends to figure that there’s some contradiction here between wanting a translucent spatial effect and the need for walls for display.
Whereas in Chipperfield’s project featured slightly earlier, his scheme is more truthful to the programme with openings created only when truly necessary, with the vast amount of facade walls used as display surfaces for the art works inside.
September 30th, 2009 at 7:59 am
This looks like a world class art gallery – very nicely detailed with some really beautiful gallery spaces. Well done Terry Pawson – the practice has moved up a level.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Regardless of whether it bears a passing resemblance to other works, both client and architect should be appluaded for achieving such a high quality project, in both architecture and ambition. And all on a very modest budget, only 13m euros!
Also great to see different types of concrete formwork and marking. If only every small town had such quality galleries and theatres.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
it doesn’t matter who or what does it resemble. it’s great. i love it.
if it were me, i’d make more buildings like that : )
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I think it looks like a large public lavatory. Of course, judging by the following story, this is something that George Bernard Shaw would have approved of.
http://lavatoryreader.typepad.com/the-lavatory-reader/2009/10/how-george-bernard-shaw-nearly-died-of-diarrhoea.html