The project explores the relationship between humankind and rivers: how humans perceive rivers and the two-way interactions that occur. It views rivers from a selection of perspectives such as the river as a life source, a transport route and a power source.
The site is the River Corrib and the surrounding land of Galway city. The design project will focus on Madeira Island, now a surface car park. The River Corrib once powered Galway city’s industry and trade but now has a much less prominent role in the city. The fact that the city is built on a massing of islands, shaped by a network of waterways, is no longer evident due to the orientation of public buildings and main routeways.
Education has long been an integral part of Galway city life. The city centre currently hosts a university, three secondary and primary schools. However, all three secondary schools are in the process of migrating outwards in search of larger grounds in the suburbs.
The aim of the project is to provoke public re-evaluation of the river and to re-orientate people towards it. The programme is a music school to strengthen the weakening educational framework of Galway’s city centre
My thesis is an investigation into the future of Irelands inland waterways. It looks specifically at the reuse of both materials and the sites of past industry that lie along the paths of our canals. In the past, Irelands canals served an industrial purpose connecting the towns linked by this network to Dublin. This thesis looks at the possibility of expanding the services and facilities available for people living on house boats to bring back the vibrancy and life that was once seen on the canals, back when workers were travelling the countryside by barge. By creating a new sustainable network supported by production on the banks of the waterways.
This thesis focuses on building with timber in an Irish environment as well as the reuse of industrial materials and warehouses along the canal banks to transform these places into vibrant functioning spaces once again. This would be made possible by using the waterways as streets of life and transport in the future.
The project was focused on the Grand canal, the canal was thought of as a redeveloped industrial corridor. However, this thesis can also be applied to any struggling post-industrial waterway whose banks show signs of dereliction.
Inland Waterways Centre, Burgess Park, Golden Island, Athlone town centre, including Exhibition Hall, boat making spaces, viewing gallery at key curving site on the Shannon, Ireland’s longest river.
