Creative Vision: SETU Architecture Students Reimagine GOMA

CREATIVE VISION: A project between GOMA Waterford and SETU Architecture Department

A Street Left Behind – Until Now

For more than a decade, Lombard Street – the central link between William Street and the Mall – has been a tale of two cities. On one side, the GOMA Gallery of Art, now celebrating its 10th year, and a fast food takeaway have soldiered on as the only occupied premises. On the other, a row of vacant and derelict properties has blighted one of Waterford’s most historically significant streetscapes.

That is now changing – rapidly.

Investment Arrives on Lombard Street

The Neville Hotel Group is refurbishing numbers 16–20 Lombard Street, the Georgian terraced houses adjoining the Tower Hotel. A 2019 refusal by An Bord Pleanála blocked their demolition, recognising them as properties of Regional Value in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage – with Architectural, Artistic and Historical significance – and as part of a largely intact Georgian streetscape bordering an Architectural Conservation Area.

The group has also secured planning permission to convert the former Alfie Hale’s pub and residence into four one-bedroom apartments, accessed from Lombard Street. Existing single-storey extensions to the pub are being removed to create car parking. Notably, the previously unsightly gable end at No. 20 / Rose Lane corner has already undergone a dramatic transformation.
Across the street, Number 8 – formerly the King’s Bar – is being redeveloped by Wesley Whelan Ltd into 13 en-suite rooms for short-term tourist accommodation.

Three Derelict Houses: The Missing Piece

Despite this progress, three mid-19th century residential properties at 3, 4 and 5 Lombard Street – owned by Waterford City & County Council and vacant for over ten years – remain the street’s most glaring problem. The houses have no rear garden and back onto the yard of numbers 6 & 7, which GOMA leases from the Council on a 20-year lease.

GOMA and SETU Students Imagine What Could Be

GOMA has long had its eye on those three derelict houses as an opportunity to expand the gallery and better serve its growing community of artists and visitors. To explore the possibilities, GOMA partnered with the Architecture Department at SETU (South East Technological University), commissioning fourth-year students to develop design proposals for integrating the buildings into the gallery.

Students visited the gallery and consulted with the director and chairperson, identifying a number of core needs:

• To provide a dedicated workshop space at ground level to support accessibility needs.
• To provide additional artist studios to meet increasing demand.
• To improve and enhance the entrance to the gallery from the street.
• To add or enhance space with consideration of current services offered by the gallery.

The Competition:

Forty students, working in teams of three, produced 14 project submissions. These were presented to Head of School Dr Sharon O’Brien, course leader Jenny O’Leary, GOMA Chairperson, Stephanie Taheny, and GOMA’s founding Director Jenna Whelan. A shortlist of five finalists was selected, with a panel made up of invited architect Rupert Maddock, Arts Officer Conor Nolan, GOMA’s Chairperson Stephanie Taheny and GOMA’s Founding Director Jenna Whelan selecting the awardees.

Two cash prizes for the most innovative designs are being sponsored by GOMA Chairperson, Stephanie Taheny. 

All the projects approached the brief in a very serious manner and we were very excited at the quality and variation of the different approaches. There were some great ideas in all the projects and we would like to congratulate all the students involved.
We particularly like those designs that provided a new dramatic entrance in the space between the existing building and the 3 derelict buildings.

Most of the designs included a link at first floor level from the existing building to the 3 derelict buildings and we believe the ones that worked best were those the used an internal stair case in house number 3 Lombard Street to access the ground floor, having the advantage of avoiding loss of space in the courtyard, and a security problem at events in the courtyard.

Those designs that addressed the low ceiling height in the 3 derelict building and brought the level up the match the existing galley floor level at first level worked best and would create a pleasant new ground floor workshop space. Opening up the attic space to compensate for the loss of floor to ceiling heights at lower levels was a good idea.

We particularly liked the introduction of new uses in the form of residential use on the third floor linked to artist studios which would allow us to provide artist residences with accommodation (Project 8 Unveiling the Courtyard). We liked the idea of the café / coffee dock on the ground floor (Project 13 Continuum) which would be beneficial to GOMA by creating additional traffic to the gallery and potential greater use of the courtyard and might provide an additional income stream.

In terms of overall aesthetics the most innovative design to bring attention to the gallery and the function of the building, embraced the use of the façades of all the buildings rather than concentrating on one single entrance. This was Project 9 Envelope.
This certainly had a wow factor.

The use of drapery or mesh cladding on the elevation and entrance (Project 12 The Showroom ) and the link to uses in the past was also an innovative idea.

The provision of coloured glass or stained glass in the opening of the rear façade of the 3 derelict buildings defining the courtyard on its southern side offers the potential to create interest and vibrancy during the day with sunlight internally to the building and externally to the courtyard at night time with artificial light, Project 6 GOMA Colour and Light.

Project 4 Gateway proposed a whole new back elevation which would link the two buildings with a new external corridor at first and second floor level. It also proposes changing the floor levels within the three houses to tie in with the existing building, as well as setting back the new floors from the front elevation so as not to interfere with the windows on the Lombard Street elevation

In terms of meeting our spatial requirements Project 2 the Glass Spine created 17 studio spaces and direct access to the street and Project 1 Art of illumination made a very good suggestion that we provide a pitched roof on the existing gallery which could increase our floor space and would be an option for the flat roof replacement. Project 10 Activating the Existing, provided extensive additional floorspace to meet the requirements of the brief with minimum structural alterations required and relocated the main entrance to midway between the existing gallery and 3, 4, & 5 Lombard Street.

The decision to pick a first and second from the five short listed was a difficult task and was adjudicate by Stephanie Taheny, Chairperson of GOMA, Jenna Whelan founding Director of the gallery, the Arts officer Conor Nolan and the former city Architect Rupert Maddock.

The awards were announced at an event in the gallery on Thursday 26th March 2020, attended by the students and members of the Architectural School. The CEO of Waterford County Council Sean Mac Keown and the City Architect Maurice Conway also attended the event.

The winning project was Project 4, Gateway to Movement in Art by students Hannah Lanigan, Niamh Mc Keogh and Alice Tyrrell.

The runner up was Project 10, Activating the Existing by students Clara Becq, Lana Buigues and Lucas Pessin and Maryem Benabdelhadi.

All the projects will be available on the GOMA website to view.

GOMA expressed thanks Dr Sharon O’Brien and course leader Jenny O’Leary for bringing this collaboration to life and all their great support for the project.

And who knows what may come of all these great ideas?,