Dublin

April 2002

Dublin

The rich cultural association of Dublin and Ireland, the genuine warmth and friendliness of the people and the cosmopolitan nature of the city itself belie the stormy nature of its history. Today it is a major European Capital city.

The whole of Ireland was once occupied by the Danes and Dublin was the site of many battles as the Irish tried to wrestle back control. The Danes were eventually expelled by the English under HenryII near the end of the 12th Century.

Dublin slowly grew in size and importance and was for a time the second city of the early British Empire. But its influence declined after the abolision of the Irish Parliament and never re emerged until Ireland became independant in 1922. During this period Dublin saw some of the most severe fighting of the revolution.

Steve and Gail from Inscape joined a party from Richard Murphy Architects and Architectural Guru Isi Metstein and journeyed to Dublin for a four day trip to sample the delights of the fair city.

During the visit we were given special access to the new extension to the National Gallery by Benson and Forsyth and we made a one day trip by train to Galway Bay to see the completed family home of Rod Stoneman and Sue Clarke, designed by Richard Murphy. The clients had previously flown their builder to Edinburgh where we had shown him around several of our completed projects and explained some of the technical aspects of the detailing.

The whole trip was a great success,"We came, we saw, we drank" as Mr Murphy put it.

It was the third such trip where we have joined Richard's team over the last few years, previously visiting Paris in 1999 and Barcelona in 1998. Apart from being able to see some of the inspirational work the office is interested in, these trips also give us the opportunity to get to know the architects in their office, many of whom we eventually work with in Edinburgh.