Tour 5:

Cregan Library and Woodlock Hall Library, Dublin City University

 

Type of Library: academic

Total Distance Return Trip: 9 km

Meeting Point: Convention Centre Dublin

Price per person: € 10

Cregan Library, St. Patrick’s Campus, DCU
The Cregan Library on St. Patrick’s Campus opened in 2016 and is a four-storey modern building designed with a nod to the brutalist style of architecture, which includes a spectacular three-storey glass lantern overlooking the village of Drumcondra. The modern building sits alongside Belvedere House on campus, which dates from 1645, and both buildings share a view of Belvedere Lawn. The outdoor reading balcony on the top floor of the Cregan offers breathtaking views of Dublin Bay and City. The ground floor is open to the public and houses exhibition spaces and the Seamus Heaney lecture theatre. DCU established Ireland’s first university Faculty of Education and the Cregan library collection reflects that with a building that enhances 21st Century learning.

Woodlock Hall Library, All Hallows Campus, DCU
Across the road, also in Drumcondra, is the newly opened Woodlock Hall Library. With its gothic aesthetic informing J.J. McCarthy’s design. It is located within the historic Aula Maxima of the DCU All Hallows Campus. The shelving and galleries have been situated along the existing walls so as to retain the single volume of the hall. The restoration project consisted of raising and subsequent relaying of historic timber floorboards, the restoration of wainscotting and restored gothic arched windows. The building uses passive energy systems and maintains a constant temperature throughout the year.

Artwork in Woodlock
The only artwork in situ is a series of portraits of signatories to the 1916 proclamation entitled 1916 Leaders by the internationally renowned Mick O’Dea.
This artwork was created in 2016 as part of an exhibition entitled “The Foggy Dew” to mark the centenary of the destruction of the RHA in 1916.