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Regeneration of historic market delivers vibrant community space
A once-derelict potato market in the heart of the county town of Carlow in Ireland has undergone a thoughtful regeneration to create a modern, vibrant and flexible community space.
Operating as a potato market for the local area until the 1930s, it was also home to an open-air livestock market, a cobbler’s shop, a garage and a factory, before it fell into disuse in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Proposals in the early 2000s for its commercial development were put on indefinite hold until Carlow County Council spearheaded the revival of this unique facility.
A new public realm for indoor and outdoor events
The project brief for Carlow Exchange was to provide a new covered outdoor space suitable for multiple uses including the Carlow Farmers’ Market, exhibitions, concerts and events. This development is part of a wider ambition to level up the Carlow area which has suffered with a number of derelict buildings and has lacked a focused civic center that serves it residents.
Carlow Exchange is located on grounds of significant historical and cultural importance, explains Conor Moriarty, senior executive architect at Carlow County Council.
The site cried out for redevelopment to become once more the hub of its glory days, albeit one for modern day requirements such as artistic displays, concerts, exhibitions, and events. Graphisoft’s Archicad was instrumental in the design and implementation of this redevelopment project
The main objective for this redevelopment was to greatly improve space functionality, as Conor explains: The venue will be available to any group gatherings for the community. The space is a covered shell with a wide-open space, and it offers flexibility through its modular design. This means that events can still go ahead even in inclement weather, and the space can be adapted to suit various activities. I believe this is a wonderful re-incarnation of the ancient potato market of the 1700s.
Real-time visualisations bring project to life
Conor had previous experience with Graphisoft software, and on this occasion, he found that a mix of Archicad, Twinmotion and BIMx offered great results, helping to foster effective collaboration between project partners. Thanks to the live connection, Archicad and Twinmotion are synchronised in real-time; all changes made in the Archicad model are subject to an automated update process inside Twinmotion. This enables users to edit the Archicad model and make fast design decisions, while all changes made in the Archicad model are subject to an automated update process inside Twinmotion. The link accelerates 3D design and visualisation workflows for projects with multiple stakeholders. BIMx was also extensively used for presentations to public representatives and for discussing details with the design team. A particularly useful feature was the ability to show members of the public the lighting conditions and options with a great degree of accuracy. BIMx allowed the architects to put 15 different crossed sections in context in the 3D model, which made them significantly more legible. As an added benefit, BIMx features the ‘BIM Hyper-model’ – a game-like navigation tool that helps anyone explore the building model and understand project deliverables. The real-time model cut-throughs, in-context measuring and project markups in the model context helped the design team to easily communicate their ideas to the non-specialist stakeholders.
Shining new light on historic building
The building is unique in its use of materials and the roof is its most striking element, with its illumination at night, a key part of its material palette. The roof, supported by a new steel structure, is lifted off the original walls and doesn’t touch them, but rather frames the historic layers of the building.
The task of providing natural light into the space was achieved by providing several overlapping roof elements with clerestory windows, as well as gap between the new roof and old walls that allows light in. The building will be lit up with a combination of artificial lighting and distinctive three-dimensional signage.
Careful collaboration ensures coordinated design
As with all projects of this size and importance for the local community, Carlow Exchange presented a unique set of challenges. These came in the form of early issues and clashes with the structural design, but by being able to import the steelwork model directly into the Archicad model for reference, the team could spot all potential errors early on.
An external structural engineering company was involved in the steelwork, and the IFC import feature enabled them to create their own model which we then imported straight into the Archicad model for accuracy, says Conor.
We then carried out a clash detection study to make sure it all coordinated. We also used a live link which allowed us to update the model and share it with other members of the team irrespective of their location.
Archicad is a great tool for finding conflicts within the model for early identification of potential mistakes, explained Conor.
There were early issues with the structural proposal when it was originally designed, but thanks to Archicad we could see straight away where these issues were. This gave us the inspiration and the instruments we needed in order to make changes. This not only saved time on reworking the designs, but also avoided costly mistakes onsite. This is particularly important when dealing with public sector works which are always under intense public scrutiny and where we need to demonstrate value for money at all stages.
A striking new venue for the whole community
Carlow Exchange was the first step in the larger civic redevelopment of the town centre public realm, and it is expected to be completed and open to the public within months. As it was developed during the changing world of Covid, it proved to be very fortunate in terms of its timing.
With an increased demand for outdoor and open plan spaces that allow for social distancing, Carlow Exchange was a pivotal project and is part of an overall bigger strategy. Now, the people of Carlow have a venue that allows them to come together and enjoy what the local area has to offer.