Buying into better shopfront design

Better standards are being demanded for shopfront design in Dublin's O'Connell Street, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

Talk of better shopfront design has been around a long time, ever since there was a general revulsion over the back-lit plastic box facias that were all the rage in the 1960s and 1970s. What's different is that pastiches of traditional shopfronts are no longer seen as the only solution.

The latest set of guidelines for the O'Connell Street rejuvenation area, published on Monday by Dublin City Council, cites several examples of good contemporary solutions that manage to convey the essential principles of good shopfront design - clarity, visibility, legibility, harmony and simplicity.

Produced by Howley Harrington Architects, who have their offices in Upper O'Connell Street, the guidelines give practical advice as well as stating clearly the standards that the planners will be seeking to apply to new shopfront proposals in the entire area stretching from Parnell Square to College Green.

But they will also have a more general application, because the same principles would hold almost everywhere - notably that shopfronts should always avoid over-elaborate design and signage and "always respond and relate comfortably to the building and setting in which they sit". That's basic.

In the case of O'Connell Street, there is no doubt that it has suffered what the authors describe as a "noticeable deterioration" in its image; they attribute this not only to the proliferation of fast-food joints but also to poor shopfront design that detracts from its essential grandeur.

"One of the most obvious and visually damaging aspects of this decline is the substantial alteration of so many good shopfronts, or their replacement with poor quality substitutes, generally showing little consideration for design, conservation or the careful use of materials", the guidelines say.

It has to be said, however, that O'Connell Street is not quite as bad as it was 10 years ago.

Some of the better examples cited include Schuh, at its lower end, where a very intelligently designed façade replaced the hideously inappropriate Burgerland building, which was erected around 1980.

The authors offer a useful history of the evolution of shopfront design, dealing in particular with the work of the Wide Streets Commissioners.

What survives of their schemes, they say, provides "lasting evidence of imaginative, forward-looking town planning and urban design".

They also examine in detail one good example of a well-preserved 19th century shopfront - the Irish Yeast Co in College Street - which is well articulated and proportioned, using good, hand-crafted details, while giving a sense of structural support to the rest of the building.

This is where so many mock-traditional shopfronts fail miserably.

Because their designers have no understanding of the basic principles of good design, what they produce looks as if it has been slapped on or, alternatively, has a boxed-out fascia to accommodate an aluminium roller shutter.

As the guidelines explain, when wide openings are formed in narrow-fronted masonry buildings, they must be designed to create the illusion of providing structural support for the upper floors.

That's why the Irish Yeast Co's use of pilasters, brackets and frieze makes the shopfront work so well.

"Most so-called historic shopfronts we see today are simply constructed using plywood casings and timber mouldings," the authors say.

"The results of a pastiche approach are usually bland and lifeless, more like a parody than the real thing, and these will very quickly become shabby."

Continental examples of successful shopfront design are drawn from Denmark, Belgium and Sweden.

In Malmo, a large McDonalds outlet has been shoehorned into an ornate 19th century stuccoed building, with its presence announced by a large red flag featuring the chain's golden arches logo.

Recommendations are made for the replacement of offensive or inappropriate shopfronts and signage in the O'Connell Street area, using different strategies to repair, restore, replicate or renew as necessary. Some of the alterations proposed are very subtle, but no less effective for that.

Some 80 shopfronts were identified as needing replacement in the 1997 O'Connell Street Integrated Area Plan, and there was even a scheme of tax incentives to encourage owners to make the required investment.

However, many of them are still there seven years later and the incentives will soon expire.

Nobody can doubt the public commitment to O'Connell Street's rejuvenation. The Spire is up and the first phase of recreating the ground plane, in front of Clery's and the GPO, is emerging. It already looks as if it will be as impressive in its impact as the re-making of the Champs-Elysées.