New uses sought for Central Bank site

With the Central Bank due to move to the proposed Anglo Irish Bank headquarters site on Dublin’s North Wall Quay, an architectural ideas competition is seeking a role for its iconic Dame Street headquarters.

Organised by DoCoMoMo Ireland, part of an international organisation dedicated to conserving buildings of the modern movement, the “Central Bank in the 21st Century” competition will start on December 1st.

“The purpose of the competition is to create a body of ideas about how the Central Bank building might approach its next phase of life . . . to re-imagine the building and its immediate surrounding environment in an innovative and exciting way,” DoCoMoMo Ireland said. “Buildings often outlive their original function. The headquarters of the Central Bank of Ireland on Dame Street (Stephenson Gibney Associates, 1980) may soon be vacated by its current occupant. The question is: what does the Central Bank want to be?”

DoCoMoMo asked “how should this landmark modern movement building serve the public in the future both as a container and as an urban definer of the city landscape?”

The competition is “open to all individuals and groups with an interest in presenting creative ideas for the future use of this landmark building”, with a registration fee of €20 (€10 for students).

It will be judged by Dublin City Council chief architect Ali Grehan; Kathleen James-Chakraborty, chair of the Irish Architecture Foundation; Joe Mulholland, director of the MacGill Summer School; architectural historian Dr Paul Larmour, of Queen’s University Belfast; and David Healy, a founder of Respublica.