Crowds gathered in Ennis Co. Clare as Taoiseach Simon Harris TD formally opened the new DeValera Library.
The spectacular 2,300m2 project which adds a new landmark public building for Ennis, Clare’s county town and the region, is Keith Williams Architects’ sixth project in Ireland.
Sitting opposite Monastery Park, an important public green space within the town’s confines, the new building forms a cultural hub, adding the new county library and a small contemporary art gallery which connect with the town’s existing Glór Theatre (2001).
The DeValera Library, the Súil art gallery and the Glór are now interlinked through a new double height colonnaded portico and main entrance, joining up the triptych of the literary, visual and performing arts contained within, the three primary colours of the arts.
Taoiseach Simon Harris congratulated Clare County Council and everyone involved in commissioning, designing and delivering the building.
The form of the new building is characterised by a 10m high sinuous reconstituted stone wall which provides the outer skin to the library and art gallery. It forms a new civic frontage for this new cultural building complex. Rooflights and sidelight glazed slots bring daylight into the heart of the plan, whilst “incident windows” connect the interior with the exterior and offer views to key points within Ennis.
The administrative offices for the County Library service sit above the double height main library space in a simple, rectangular form.
The exterior facades are largely formed from pale reconstituted stones and sit upon a profiled base (ground level) storey of vertical masonry ribs to create strong rhythm on the façade. Contrasting glazed panels with metallic bronze powder coated aluminium frames give accent, contrast and highlight.
At 81/2 years in the making, it has been one of the firm’s longest in duration, hit by Covid and the collapse of the first contract LM Keating in 2020, and has been testament to the resilience of the client team at Clare County Library and the team at Keith Williams Architects led by project director Richard Brown.
The supporting design team includes ARUP, AECOM, Axis Consulting Engineers and OLM Consultancy with main contractor Coolsivna Construction Ltd from Co. Galway undertaking the build, with Techrete providing the reconstituted stone facades.