THE MILK Market in Limerick scooped this year’s Public Choice prize at the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland Awards, announced at a ceremony in Dublin City Council’s Wood Quay offices yesterday evening.
The structure, which is in the centre of Limerick city, saw off competition from Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and the Long Room Hub, a new research building at Trinity College Dublin, among others, to take the top honour.
Now in its fourth year, the public choice award has proved highly popular and received some 10,000 votes in the last year.
The winning project was designed by Healy Partners and was said to have reinvigorated and restored a historic market.
The market was originally built in the 1840s before being restored and opened as an outdoor weekly market in the early 1990s.
It was subsequently redeveloped with a view to holding daily markets and other events. The architects decided to create a tensile structure that would offer cover for the courtyard while still retaining an outdoor atmosphere.
The new structure does not come in contact with the existing market buildings and city wall, both of which are protected. The canopy has been successful in keeping the rain out and sound in.
There were 38 projects shortlisted from the 134 entries received across 15 categories. Among the other projects to make the shortlist include Kilmainham Congregational Church, Merlin Park Hospital’s child and adolescent mental health unit in Galway and the Skibbereen Credit Union.
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