Glass was a key feature among winners at the 2006 RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) awards, which were presented on 7 June 2006. The awards, now in the 17th edition, attracted 162 en…
Glass was a key feature among winners at the 2006 RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) awards, which were presented on 7 June 2006. The awards, now in the 17th edition, attracted 162 entries and there were 16 main awards, including five special awards. Winner of the “Best Public Building of the Year” was the sloping glass-wrapped offices of Kildare County Council, designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, in association with Arthur Gibney and Partners. The judges described the project as “an exciting yet serious building, successful on a number of levels”. The Falls Leisure Centre, Belfast, by Kennedy Fitzgerald and Associates won both “Best Accessible Project” (sponsored by the OPW) and “Best Sustainable Project” (sponsored by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government). A three-storey glass-clad building, topped with projecting lanterns, the Falls Leisure Centre uses coloured Okalux double glazing so that, at different times of day and night, the sports centre glows with blue, green, red and purple. “Best Commercial Building” for 2006, the Douglas Wallace-designed Eye Cinema in Galway, has a curved glass wall that offers a new vision for cinema-design. Curved glass as a grand gesture was also used at the Cork University Maternity Hospital by Reddy O“Riordan Staehli Architects. Glass is placed through the white limestone building with a large, sweeping central section that expands over the roof line. In contrast, the transparency of glass was exploited in two schemes which added new elements to existing, historic buildings. Architects Bucholz McEvoy“s entrance pavilion to the Dil in Dublin sits between the monumental National Library, Leinster House and the National Museum. The judges said: “The architects succeeded in creating a structure of ethereal quality – it is so polite to its neighbours that it nearly ceases to exist. The glass enclosure makes no shadow, thus becoming truly transparent. The understated good manners of this building belie the complexity and care of the design”. The redevelopment of the Lifetime Lab in Cork, by Jack Coughlan Associates, incorporated a glazed lift shaft, away from the existing building, which used to be a waterworks and is now a visitor and education centre on sustainable living. “The prominent elevator and bridge create an appropriately-scaled signal of the new use of the site, yet do not compete with the landmark brick and stone chimney stack”, said the judges who awarded this the “Best Conservation/Restoration” project (sponsored by the Heritage Council). RIAI president John Graby noted that all of the special award winners in 2006 were outside Dublin. “This shows that good design is recognised as an important attribute right across the country”, he said.