Hailed as one of Europe’s finest purpose built music conservatories the Murray Ó Laoire Architects designed CIT Cork School of Music (CSM) was opened on Friday the 14th of September by the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin T.D.:
“This is a tremendous project and it offers huge potential not just for Cork but for Irish arts as a whole," Minister Hanafin said. "For close on 130 years the Cork School of Music has nurtured, developed and created music, speech and drama at this site. The school has a reputation for excellence both nationally and internationally...
Now with these impressive new facilities I am sure that CSM will achieve even greater things in the future. The state of the art and high tech facilities available in the new school will mean that students will be able to foster their talents in a 21st century learning environment.
I am sure that every student attending here will enjoy their new surroundings.”
The President of CIT, Dr Brendan Murphy, welcomed the official opening of CIT Cork School of Music:
“This is a historic day for Cork city", said Dr Murphy, "and I must begin by thanking the staff and students of the School of Music for their forbearance. We may have had to wait a few years but I think everyone will agree it was well worth that wait... I must also thank the subcontractors and suppliers including John Sisk & Son Ltd; Murray O'Laoire Architects and other members of the design team; Steinway and Apple Ireland.
We are delighted to have such a wonderful, purpose built facility...”
The MÓLA project team, past and present, also attended the ceremony and celebrated the completion of such an important project that has been with the practice since 2001.
Ralph Bingham, MÓLA's Director-in-Charge of the CIT Cork School of Music described the importance of this project to the practice:
“When we started this project in 2001 we aspired to make the CIT Cork School of Music a reference point and pilgrimage place for other institutions throughout the world. We wanted to design a building that transcended its functional and technical imperatives and make a beautiful building.
I think Murray O’ Laoire Architects and all the team that worked on the CIT Cork School of Music have more than delivered on these promises and we can be justifiably proud of our achievements.”
The CIT Cork School of Music has opened to very favourable critical comment. In particular Frank McDonald, in an article in the Irish Times of the 7th of September 2007 writes that “...the new school is a splendid addition to Cork's urban fabric... bright and cheerful, and with teaching facilities that would make any musician's mouth water."
He goes on to suggest that the school “...looks better than the early digital images. That's a tribute not only to Sean O’ Laoire, but also project director Ralph Bingham, project architect Poppy O'Neill and everyone else who worked on it.”
While in the Autumn 2007 edition of the Irish Arts Review Louise Cotter notes that “...Murray O’ Laoire Architects have worked with complex technical criteria to provide relaxed and generous rooms with good visual connections to the outside world" and describes the top floor Fleischmann Library as “...a thrilling space”.
The school includes advanced IT, communication and specialist audio systems integrated together to form a world class environment for audio teaching and learning. Catering for approximately 4,000 full and part-time students, the facilities provided in the new school include specialised tuition studiios, lecture rooms, rehearsal hall, recording studio, drama suite, performance spaces and library..
The first educational building in Ireland to be undertaken under the public private partnership model, CIT Cork School of Music was funded through the NDP Public Private Partnership programme (2000-2006).
Related News Item:
- A Piece of Music History was made on July 6, 2006 when the first notes were played in the Cork School of Music... (more)
- The Topping Out Ceremony at the new Cork School Of Music was performed on the 15th Sept 2006 by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin, T.D... (more)