Students have designs on city’s iconic buildings

IT’S an ambitious vision for the future of some of Cork’s most iconic buildings that they hope will spark debate.

Third-level design students have suggested turning some of the city’s landmark buildings into an IMAX cinema and a national centre for extreme sports.

The proposals are part of Cork Institute of Technology’s (CIT) interior architecture students’ final-year project.

They chose complex buildings and re-imagined their future, drawing up plans to save them from demolition, and preparing exciting blueprints to revamp and reuse them.

One student, James Pittam, suggested how the city’s towering R&H Hall silos could be revamped as the country’s first extreme sports centre, complete with a giant crane for bungee jumps.

Another student, Anthony Burrage, wants to transform the nearby Bulher grain silo into an IMAX cinema.

Many of the buildings were earmarked for demolition in the boom years, to be replaced with towering new apartment and office blocks, and hotels.

But with the collapse of the economy, those plans were shelved and some of the buildings are lying idle.

The design students decided to offer a new perspective on the future of these buildings.

Lecturer in interior architecture, Marc Ó Riain, said he hopes their ideas will open a dialogue on the future of our built environment.

“In demolition we add energy to landfill without considering the carbon cost of the replacement with new structures,” he said.

“This is becoming more important as the EU and Irish governments have committed to carbon reduction targets by 2020, and as the construction and building services sector are responsible for 45% of all carbon emissions it is completely clear that sustainable refurbishment is the way forward rather than replacement architecture.”

He said that while all the plans are aspirational, they come complete with all the technical detail an architect would need to deliver the projects.

The students’ ideas will go on show as part of a week-long exhibition opening at CIT’s Nexus on the Bishopstown Campus next Friday. The free exhibition is open to the public on weekdays.