University College Dublin and its Building Plans

"WE MAY HAVE TO ABANDON OUR FIRST CHEMISTRY COURSE - SOMEBODY BROKE THE BEAKER."

19. The Humorous Side. One of the few things that surprised us inthe Commission's Report was the view expressed on pages 125-"We cannot but feel that the Colleges might have done more to bring their needs to the knowlege of the public." Actually, our needs had been urged, especially by the President in Conferring Day addresses, so frequently and forcefully that everybody in Dublin if not throughout the country must know we are overcrowded. All extremes and all incongruities, such as a big university with scanty buildings and equipment, have their comic side. This has been seized admirably on several occasions by Dublin Opinion, from which we reproduce this cartoon.

20. "The Minister for Education presents Dr. Michael Tierney with a shoehorn to enable him to get another four or five hundred students into U.C.D." Dublin Opinion, August 1959.

This and No. 19 are reproduced by kind permission of Dublin Opinion.

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21. The Great Hall; a conferring of Degrees, July 1959. The Great Hall was used by the Royal University for conferring degrees, and occasionally as a concert hall. Marked for demolition in 1912, it was in disuse for many years. One of Dr. Tierney's first actions as President was to restore it. We could not now do without the Great Hall, which is in constant use for examiniation, the registration of studnets, etc.

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22. The front of the "Pillar Hall" and adjacent buildings, March 1959. The dilapidated condition of the old buildings can be seen. But structurally they are sound enough to house the large temporary Library which came into use in Nobember 1959.

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23. The back of the old buildings, March 1959. Guant and decaying, these walls contrast with the Earlsfort Terrace facade which hides them from public view; but they enclosed halls which are larger than any in the newer buildings, and which will provide a reasonably spacious Library during the transition years.

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24. The "Pillar Hall", March 1959, before reconstruction. This portion of the old buildings had been used only for storage since 1909. It has now been prepared for library use. The gap has been bridged over giving a large reading-room above and a stackroom below.

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25. The new upper reading-room, which is to be called the Eugene O'Curry Hall. The lighting from the roof is extremely good. This pictue was taken in July 1959, before the furniture and books were installed; it corresponds to the upper half of No. 24)

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26. Merville. A Georgian mansion, the largest house on the campus. After reconstructions, all research work in Biochemistry was moved here from the north block, Earlsfort Terrace. This released valuable space for the large classes in Experiments Physics. The rooms of old mansions like this, while unsuited to the teaching of large clases, make very good research laboratories.

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27. Ardmore. This large house has been resonstructed to house the research departments of Industrial and of Medical Microbiology. The latter department is in full working order. The former, which the College owes to the munificence of Messrs. Guinness and Bord na Mona, is nearly ready.

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28. Ardmore. A Research laboratory in operation (Medical Microbiology).

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29. Woodview. Taken in august 1959, when work was about to begin for the the installation here of Institutes of Medicine and Surgery.

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30. Belgrove. This house was fitted out during 1957 for two Institutes; one for research into the history of Irish families on the Continent, under the department of Italian and Spanish, with an improtant archive of microfilms, etc; and one for experimental Psychology. No space for such work was available at the Ealrsfort Terrae.

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31. The Belgrove Valley, looking towards Stillorgan Road from the head of the valley, which in the proposed lay-out is the site for the Library.

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32. Trees near Merville. There is much fine timber on the campus, and steps have been taken to preserve it and to fill gaps along the boundaries. In siting the buildings, the wooded aspect of the campus will be disturbed as little as possible.

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33. Gate of the walled garden at Belfield. There are some pleasing pieces of old garden design and architecture on the campus, which will be carefully preserved.

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tentative, and in the view of the Commission (Report, p. 45) it is "unneccessarily rigid." But while it is not at all likely that this plan will be followed in every detail and while it is possible that something very different may take its place, it is nevertheless the plan which is before us as a basis for consideration. A brief description of it may therefore be interesting.

The plan contemplates a main entry from Stillorgan Road where the Belgrove valley, a topographical feature of considerable interest from the architectural point of view, reaches the road form the south-west. The buildings are grouped on the higher ground ate each side of the valley and at its head (twenty-five to thirty feet above the entrance). They form the following main groups: (1) on the left or south-east side of the valley, looking from the entrance - Chapel, Administration, Arts and allied faculties; (2) at the head of the valley - the Library; (3) and (4) on the right-hand or north-west side of the valley - Science and Medicine. These are within a ring-road enclosing about thirty-six acres; within this area all circulattion must be made on foot. Outside the ring-road, to the south-east, are the Gymnasium, Theatre, Students' Union; to the west, Engineering and Architecture. The whole area is almost completely ringed by belts of fine timber.

The Belgrove plan leaves room for addtions to every block, when future needs call for them. Ample space remains for playing-fields and eventually for halls or hostels.

The net floor area of the buildings contemplated is 610,000 square feet, or roughly three times the area (207,000 square feet) in use in 1958 at Earlsfort Terrace and Merrion Street. It is hoped that the buildings will be in form and appearance worthy of their site and their function. There will be no extravagance; the aim will be with the least possible expense to achieve appropriateness and dignity. It is evident that the whole building of the College will require a large expenditure of public money; the recent commission confirms our estimate of L6,700,000. 1 In considering the magnitude of the amount, it should be remembered

1 The cost to the taxpayer will be less, as the buildings at Earlsfort Terrace and Merrion Street will be reliquised to the government. These are valued at L1,500,000, which makes the net total cost of building the College L5,200,000. This estimate covers only buildings, not movable furniture or scientific equipment. It can be stated, however, that these items will not require the expenditure of any large capital sum. The College will move out its existing equipment and furniture, to the stock of which it is continually adding by annual purchase.