Architecture Ireland had recently featured a number of MOLA projects including: UL Thomond Student Village, Limerick in the September 2006 issue; Ballinamore Library, May 2006 and earlier this year Trinity College, Trinity Hall Student Housing, Dartry, Dublin.
On Trinity Hall Student Housing, the impressed reviewer Rory O’Donovan states that:
"the architects have used exceptional skill’ and ‘played a subtly clever game... the new Trinity Hall complex succeeds in providing a very civilised and pleasant environment [and]Perhaps the most striking thing about the student halls of residence is how normal, respectful, reasonable and calm they are.’
The February issue of Architecture Ireland also features an interview with Trinity Hall’s Project Architect, MOLA Associate Director, George Boyle. She tells AI that her principal design influences are simplicity, humour and Arthur!
In the Architecture Ireland May issue on Ballinamore Library, the client, Leitrim County Council, is quoted as saying that they were provided with a ‘modern attractive building with a strong visual impact’…,’ has an intelligent layout’ and that it is ‘warm, bright and a delight to sit in’
The September 2006 issue features UL Thomond Student Village, Limerick. This project provides 503 student en-suite bedrooms for the University of Limerick. The editorial states that:
"Murray O'Laoire Architects have devised an imaginative student village on a wetland site of outstanding beauty"
The September issue also features an article by MOLA Associate Director Bernard Gilna on Built to Last- the Sustainable Reuse of Buildings - This deals with a study in Dublin on the sustainable re-use of buildings listed as Protected Structures. Buildings were examined from the prespective of an economic, environmental and cultural analysis.
Bernard Gilna concludes that the ‘Retention, rehabilition and re-use of buildings can play a pivotal role in the sustainable development of the city’
See DCC website www.dublincity.ie for details of this study.
The September issue of Architecture Ireland also features the farewell ceremony and un-masking of the creator of the legendary Hieronymous, who entertained readers to that publication with his comic strip 'The Soil Vent Pipe'.
Sean Kearns, an Architect and Associate Director with the Cork Office had contributed the cartoon for over 5 years, and Irish Architecture issued a special collection of his work for that event, which was held in Dublin Castle in July 2006.