Smithfield, Dublin
as pedestrianised, despite the necessary vehicle
movements in front of the hotel.
The scheme has been hindered by the management
and replacement policy, which has not adhered to
the detailed design and therefore slightly down-
graded the robust nature of the design philosophy.
The curve of the roadway is accentuated by the
differing colours of the stone products used in the
adjacent areas, but lack of cleaning of the lighter
granite of the carriageway limits this contrast and
therefore diminishes the original design intention.
The 100mm diameter non-standard stainless steel
bollards are fitted into baseplates to provide a guide
to traffic management on the site. They are all
removable for events. In certain areas, bollards have
been flattened by collision from vehicles, as there is
limited traffic management on the site. Replacement
bollards are of a standard cylindrical form omitting
the interesting angled detail and therefore, over
time, this replacement policy is reducing the qual-
ity of detailed design. The designer had considered
the use of heavier gauge bollards to limit vehicle
impact, but if these had been used, the baseplate
could have been lifted by impacts which would have
caused further damage to the paving.
The development of the Luas tram line has pre-
vented design implementation to the south, where
the existing plane trees are located in crudely con-
structed raised squares of granite setts, adjacent to
the brazier supply building.Highly durable natural stone paving has been used
and there has been recycling of the existing setts.
The roadways are single carriageway and traffic was
observed to travel slowly. At the crossing points
along the east outside the hotel, the carriageway
becomes level allowing universal access. These
zones are frequent along the pavement, providing
good ease of access especially outside the hotel
and commercial outlets. The most northerly cross-
ing point from the east starts outside a local shop
and provides access across the site to the residen-
tial locations to the north-west.The pavement width was observed to be narrow
outside the hotel for the volume and multi-directional
nature of the pedestrian traffic, but the level cross-
ing points provide defined safer routes across the
road and assist in accepting the additional volume
of pedestrians outside the main hotel doors. The
exposed edge of the cut paving at the road edge
varies in depth from zero at the crossing points to
280mm elsewhere. This provides visual interest and
rhythm along the roadway.The vast, open, central area provides uninterrupted
public space for the variety of current uses, but
the area was not designed for heavy vehicle use.2.10
Quality of detailing at drop kerb