National Gallery of Ireland - Millennium Wing

Millennium Wing

A new wing, called the Mill­en­nium Wing, was opened in 2002. Un­like the pre­vious two ex­ten­si­ons, this new wing has street fron­tage and the English ar­chi­tects Benson & Forsyth gave it an im­po­sing Bo­wers Whit­bed, Port­land Stone fa­çade and grand atrium. The de­sign ori­gi­nally in­vol­ved de­molis­hing an ad­joi­ning Geor­gian ter­race house and its ball­room mews; howe­ver, the Irish plan­ning ap­peals aut­ho­rity, An Bord Pleanála, re­qui­red that they be re­tai­ned. The Mill­en­nium Wing is not wi­thout its cri­tics: it is unf­or­gi­ving of poor main­ten­ance and the com­pro­mise in the de­sign as re­qui­red by An Bord Ple­anala re­sul­ted in a final de­sign di­lu­ted from the ori­gi­nal com­pe­ti­tion win­ning buil­ding con­cept. The cir­cu­la­tion space also lacks cla­rity, but it is ge­ne­rally con­side­red that these flaws are tri­vial de­tails set against the drama of the buil­ding. In line with its Brutalist style, the in­te­rior concrete walls are still un­sea­led