The potential of spaces - Grand Canal Basin & Harbour

Grand Canal Basin was the worlds first engineered public water supply in the 13th century.

With a supply to 120,00 by 1721. By the 18th Century the Basin combined recreation & rest for the aristocracy with entry via an arch representing arrival to walk, congregate, play music and illuminate the sky with fireworks. Such uses can be disregarded as inconsequential or even it appears a type of luxury only necessary in designated areas. However the freedom to congregate, and amongst so called strangers, is at its essence imperative to such things as trade, commerce, security and the creation of relationships which ties communities together. Sustainable community and nations consist of facing all demographics with a respect to the individual, collective and place. As a nation nor in any civilisation we did not come to this time without such mechanisms in place and recognised. There has only been a shortfall to say the least in instances of not. The erosion of place with a tipped scale towards commercialism and capitalism simply does not work long term. The long term should always be the starting point. It is not only a missed opportunity to innovate and progress on feats of engineering or honouring the building of our built environment and society, it is gravely erroneous for our collective future.

One such example in progress, while not alone and in danger of easy replication is The Canal Basin and Harbour in Dublin 8. The images aboveshow you the trajectory of this sustainable thoroughfare, tree lined resource that supplied uncontaminated drinking water within the city aswell as the harbour which connected to and from rural Ireland. There is a snap shot image of many childhoods spent alongaisde the canal with access and seating. In the infamous 60/70’s the Harbour was filled in and allowed to degrade. Insight and learning from these times of dereliction, eroding of culture as well as forced relocation and removal of natives is in guised form still occurring. It is not hard to understand how it occurred in times past. We come to images of Oslo Harbour where the built environment has been purposed to allow access as a thriving, resilient, productive and overall equal demographic which sits alongside economy and stable housing. The final image is that of the approved development, which mimics Warrington Place, Dublin 4. It is along the lines of one size fits all, a skip and hop from assimilation and off shooting no doubt from colonialism. With the complete removal of the harbour and any true outdoor recreation facilities positioned in between a brewery and a hospital with dilapidated social housing that would appear to be allowed to tip steadily into disrepair with inadequate provision of public realm facilities.

I intend to dive into more detail regarding solutions over the coming months…