Ancient mythology inspires design for €4m project

ANCIENT Irish mythology has inspired the design of a €4 million cultural and ecological building, which will be the centrepiece of Millstreet Country Park in north Cork.

The scenic, 500-acre park at the foot of Mushera mountain attracted 30,000 visitors in its best year, but numbers could almost double, according to its founder and managing director, Jerry Sheehan.

“We’d need 50,000 visitors to be viable and are confident of significantly increasing numbers, which would be of undoubted benefit to Millstreet and local tourism,” he said.

“The idea behind the project is to bring what’s outside in the park indoors so that it can be easily explained to people.”

“We want to improve our environment and keep it green for our children and future generations so that they may enjoy the nature’s beauty that we too often take for granted,” Mr Sheehan added.

Located four miles from Millstreet town, the park is noted for its landscape and theme gardens with rare shrubs, flowers, a herb meadow, wetlands and boglands. It also has archaeological remains, including a 4000-year-old stone circle, a fulacht fiadh (open-air cooking area), glacier boulders and shepherd’s hut. Seven hundred red deer roam the paddocks and there are also many species of birds and wildlife.

Project architect Tadhg McMullen, of Killarney architects Paudie O’Mahoney and Associates, said he aimed to feature all the characteristics of the park within one building.

He said that aspects of Celtic heritage, its myths and legends taking inspiration from the Mushera Mountain and the nearby Twin Paps of Danu, on the Cork/Kerry border, all influenced the design.

“Water will be a central aspect of the project, flowing throughout the building both vertically and horizontally through various pools and streams, eventually making its way through the surrounding forest to a fountain by the existing reception building,” Mr McMullen explained.

“The project will be there for all, young and old, as an ecological, cultural and educational centre.

“The design intends to appeal to the child in all of us and brings us on an Alice in Wonderland journey to discover our rich heritage and ecology.

“The journey begins at the fountain and will end on the fourth floor, which will reveal the sources of the 12 healing rivers of Cuchulain,” he said.

The central columns will resemble a tree and will support a roof similar to that used in the Eden Project, in Cornwall, England, and that proposed for the Olympic swimming pool in Beijing for the 2008 games.

Over the theatre and conference room will be a deep grass roof capable of growing trees and shrubs.

The building is designed to be as carbon-neutral as possible, using natural ventilation, wood pellet boilers, grass roofs, south facing glazing system and natural materials, paints and coatings.

Grenville Construction, Killarney, has been awarded the contract and the building is expected to be completed by Christmas 2006.

Up to €8m has already been spent on the park, which is subsidised by Mr Sheehan’s company, Avonmore Electrical, which now employs 62 people.

Five people are employed full-time in the park and up to 20 part-time. An application for a grant for the park project has been made to Fáilte Ireland.