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This project was brought to us in the beginning as an alternative pitch against a local architectural practice ‘Hugh Kelly Architects’ in Limerick. The project was initially about adding a canopy of colour to brighten up Cruises Street. Once the initial kite project was complete, we were then given the commission to re-design the public space of Cruises Street (shown as zone 6 in the plan to the right) and a small section of O’Connell Street (the main street in Limerick City) run- ning perpendicular to it. The Urban Garden Project has so far been set into four stages: -Stage one was the addition of the colourful canopies above Cruises Street with a new Cruises Street entrance overhead sign. -Stage two was to add benches to Cruises Street which were designed to relate to the same theme of colour. -Stage three has been to design custom street furniture which we developed from a hexagonal shape in order to be able to form multi directional clusters of seating and tables in a repeatable manner. This development is ongoing and should be complete by April 2016. -Stage four has completed its design phase and is awaiting funding to be fabricated and installed. This consists of a hex- agonal kiosk (hexagonal to fit with the shape of the street furniture) which has a steel skeletal structure clad by a double leaf marine plywood skin which lights up at night with lighting between the two layers through perforations in the exteri- or leaf. The kiosk is designed to be closed at night and unlocked and opened out during the day. The front section is also based on a steel box section skeleton which is on wheels and rolls out from the main section. This section can be adapted to a variety of business where even a stainless steel serving counter (commonly found in fish mongers and so on) can be fit into this front section. The front of the frame is clad in canvas sections framed by plywood mounted to the steel skel- eton. These panels of canvas can be printed on for branding of the business. The four kiosks are grouped in pairs so they can connect between them two canvas cannopies. The street has undergone a colourful transformation with the provision of street furniture, free public Wi-Fi, overhead animations and a ‘Kites in Flight’ installation created by our graduate team working out of the FabLab Limerick space. The Local Authority says plans are also afoot for new ‘park lets’ outside Aroi on O’Connell Street, permanent seating, demonstration kiosks for Limerick City Centre businesses and a structured children’s play area outside Penneys. It is also planned for innovative uses of the laneways off Cruises Street to create an open-air art gallery.
