Architecture is a response not only to immediate requirements but also to the broader concerns of the community.
KEVIN ROCHE KRJDA
’’
Architecture is an achievement that comes from the commitment of the owner and the under- standing of the architect that the work to be realized will be a response not only to the immediate requirements but also to the broader concerns of the community, the accommodation of the natural and cultural environment, and the belief that the final responsibility is not only to the user and the community, but ultimately to posterity.
Roche’s sketch of the Convention Centre Dublin appears on this issue’s cover. The center, pictured at right, opened last month.
KEVIN ROCHE, of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, was born in Ireland, and has designed more than 300 buildings around the globe. The Convention Centre Dublin is his first in Ireland.
A Brie f History of C o nventio n C enters
Since the mid-19th century, convention centers have been identified with international commerce, the growth of trade, and the exchange of technology across geographic and cultural boundaries. Can we imagine the future as more of the same? Even better? Architecture as brand. The most iconic example of the
convention center is the Crystal Palace, designed for the 1851 Great Exhibition. At the request of Queen Victoria, London architect Sir John Paxton created a stunning new architectural typology as a symbol of Britain’s world domination: an innova- tive structure of glass and iron that stood proudly in Hyde Park.
center as a strategic economic asset that not only brought in much-needed revenue but also created a certain cachet. It brought cities an ineffable attribute—part urban pedigree, part marketing savvy—that we might call “brand identifica- tion” today. The Atlantic City Convention Hall (ACCH), built in 1926 in the design genre of civic architecture, established itself as a competitor in the growing national convention market through its resort location and its ability to meet the divergent requirements of event operators. Best known, per- haps, as the venue for the Miss America Pageant, ACCH hosted the 1964 Democratic National Convention, the Beat- les on their first U.S. tour, and, in 1989, the Rolling Stones. After a major renovation and modernization, the convention center’s interior makeover made it possible to attract sport- ing events including hockey, boxing, and tennis. The age of the big box. New convention centers
GLASSHOUSES:The opening of the1851Great Exhibition in London.
The building encompassed 990,000 square feet, and was 1,851 feet long and 128 feet high. More than six million visitors and 14,000 exhibits insured the success of the exhibition. Profits helped build the Natural Science Museum, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Victoria and Albert Museum of Fine Arts. The bandwagon phenomenon. By the early 20th century, municipal governments understood the convention
52 pcmaconvene October 2010
popped up like spring daisies across America in the post-Viet- nam era with the expansion of the corporate sector, when domestic change brought women into the workplace and state governments took on the rebuilding of civic monuments and public places. In the name of urban renewal, time-worn blocks of housing and retail were razed to make way for the new con- vention centers, where too often the result was a streetscape of towering, windowless façades, excessive paving, and a scale that overpowered the remaining urban fabric. The future: work + play.We can hardly take for granted
the role that technology has played in reshaping our world, flattening cultural disparities across geographical, sociologi- cal, and temporal boundaries. As it relates to convention cen- ters, one consequence of that reshaping is the new relationship between the cultures of information and leisure, so much of which drives the world economy. The global soci- ety of the 21st century combines work and play. —Barbara Hillier