Preservation of Tradition - the language, the culture and the arts

Taking the typology of the Old Irish Cinema as an existing infrastructure that lies empty within many towns scattered across our island and look to repurpose these spaces that once acted as cultural hearths within our communities. Initially, these were places of film, of dance, of music and of interaction. We must reignite these spaces; preserving the existing fabric and through careful design to allow them to become places of cultural importance once again. A place where language, song, dance, and lore can thrive, where culture can flourish once more. A place to house Irish Identity.

A Cultúrlann; a public culture building. The Phoenix Cinema site is made up of a series of elements. A solid Art Deco block to the front with a symmetrical facade, a steel light weight structure which emerges from the solid block, typical of Old Irish Cinema typology. Two gardens; one to the side dotted with storage shed structures and one to the rear where a river runs through. It is the existing elements of the site that my design was formed and based upon. Playing with the idea of solidity and steel frame structures, I created a scheme respecting, inspired by and linked with the existing. Introducing a new solid block, nodding to symmetrical motifs, centred along the street edge on Dykegate lane, the new entrance, inviting the public in underneath its overhang. Emerging from the centre block on either side is a series of small scale steel structures. The programme, consist of a series of intertwined film and language rooms; Reinstating the existing cinema room as the main film space. Complemented by a new intimate film room on the first floor in the new build. An outdoor cinema projects on the existing side elevation. Studio residency spaces for artists at the rear garden. Language rooms; interactive Irish learning spaces. A gallery shares locally collected stories, a circular storytelling space under a tree, a local folklore archive gives new use to an existing shed, a hub for a Radio na Gaeltachta, and podcasting rooms. A café links the old and new, a space of transition. The creation of a Cultúrlann in Dingle town centre, in the west of Ireland, creates opportunity to gather, experience, exchange linguistic interaction, interpret and immerse oneself in a culture and language. Adding another layer of palimpsest to the site while housing provocations of heritage.