Roscommon Covered Space

The Covered Space acts as a meeting place, an event space, a place to sit or enjoy, and an orientation point for the town. It is intended to possess a kind of enigmatic emptiness, a space that is waiting for something to happen. While it has a positive uncertainty with regard to use, it is specific in terms of place and material, responding to the cadence of the existing environment. The materials used are polished concrete, timber, and copper sheeting. A historic well was uncovered during the initial paving works. Our intervention makes a feature of this well in the South Square.

Public space is critical to the functioning of a collective society, the essential space of appearance that enables an interweaving of human affairs and, ultimately, the exercise of democratic power. In a time when public space is often conceived of ethereally rather than materially, and the collective is often confused with the commercial, this project aspires to a real, open and sustainable public realm. The resolution of this aspiration is sought in a combination of modesty and ambition. It is ambitious in its aim to transform a series of spaces only by means of working with certain urban elements. The significance given to these elements is manifested in a modest approach that gives precedence both to the strength of the historical context and to the public use of the space; offering specific areas to walk, sit, gather and assemble, places of civic interaction. In this way the project seeks to make urban spaces into public places.

The design of the Covered Space had to balance a sense of openness to the context with the creation of a comfortable micro-climate for various civic activities. The benches and pier supports are formed in polished concrete with limestone aggregate. This is visually compatible with the blue/grey tones of the adjacent Harrison’s Hall and former Jail. Concrete was selected for this project for its robustness and durability in an urban location. The use of precast minimises the amount of material required and any waste. The roof structure is made of Douglas Fir timber with glazed roof lights bringing south light into the centre of the space. Timber was chosen as a low carbon solution. The roof is covered with a copper sheeting that will in time patinate, resonating with the green copper cupola to Harrison’s Hall. The rainwater from the new roof structure drains into concealed downpipes contained within the precast columns and connects into the public drainage system.