Morrison's Island

The city of Cork is set in an extraordinary landscape encompassing the River Lee and Cork Harbour. The proposed tidal barrier can open up the potential of these connections between land and water while limiting the threat of flooding. Our project examines these connections at both large and small scales, searching for possible transformations. We are proposing a sequence of new public spaces accessed by new crossing points across the South Channel that strengthen existing north-south movement through the city.

Our project aims to realise the potential of Morrison’s Island to become a new civic place for the city. To achieve this, our intention is to make a new paved surface, an ‘urban floor’, that unifies the quay edge and that can extend through the adjacent streets and spaces. This new white concrete floor is placed at a datum of +2.7m and is overlaid with trees and benches to make an open and accessible public realm. 

The objective is to breathe new life into the quayside by strategically celebrating the perimeter edge and therefore making the whole space into a single cultural entity, a horizontal place of communication for the city.

The interventions -urban floor, balustrades, benches, bridges– are made as simply and directly as possible and are clearly expressed as new elements layered onto the historic context.

 

 

 

 

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