esat tower @ park west - an interview

Fagan Kelly Lysaght Architects Architects

building material : The role of the Esat tower in the new office park, as suggested by the computer images, seems to be more than just a functional one.

FKL Architects : The initial concept was that the tower would have a role within the Business Park, performing like a monument in a traditional European urban space. In the end, we had no control over the siting and the tower eventually found a home at the periphery of the park, near to the M50. It is beginning to establish a relationship with its immediate and distant surroundings, responding at a number of different scales.

It has been conceived as two disparate but connected elements : one relating to the horizon and skyline .slick and distant, signalling the presence of Park West to the M50 motorway ; the other grounded � tactile and accessible, providing an orientation and meeting point within the business park.

bm : The constrnstron of the mast and its supporting base looks carefully mannered and thoughtfully articulated. The parts, once established huction of the mast and its supporting base looks carefully mannered and thoughtfully articulated

FKL : The parts, once established hav e been allowed to evolve in a manner which responds to their function while still respecting their relationship.

The tower is a 24-metre high, galvanized steel lattice allowing internal access for maintenance and is clad in GRP panels supporting signage. The materiality of the mast is overtly corporate. Its elliptical form gives a constantly and seamlessly changing perspective. The base houses the electrical equipment and provides maintenance access. It has been carved to provide a platform to sit on and an opening to frame a view and invite movement through.

bm : Irony arises on a number of levels in the project : disguising the antenna in a GRP envelope ; erecting the mast in the construction prprrcess before its supporting base is built; giving an acceptocess before its supporting base is built ; giving an acceptable face to a potential health hazard. Did any of this ever present a problem for you ?

FKL : The fact is that despite the health scareily life. The potential health risks were obviously a conces the mobile phone has become and will remain a necessary part of daily life. The potential health risks were obviously a concern but notwithstanding the evidence to suggest that these have been exaggerated it does seem appropriate to site this tower in a car park in a business park so the beneficial users can contemplate the consequences. It is only in sensitive locations that the issue of disguising the true nature of the installation has become necessary. Fake chimneys and overscaled shop signs are a more cost-effective solution and it is only due to the location within a business park where image is an important sales tool that the project has evolved in this way.

The Irony, if any, lies in the fact that the primary function of the tower, to support a mobile phone antenna for Esat has been subsumed by the more demonstrative secondary role, signage for Park West. The invisible natutive secondary role, signage for Park West. The invisible nature of the media has become the message.

bm : Computer-generated images have been used as a design tool early on in the project. Woug such photo-real images before the project has even begun ?

Fld you consider that there is a danger, or anti-climax, in using such photo-real images before the project has even begun ?

FKL : Yes there is a dilemma. You begin to think there are no surprises left but the reality is invariably much better than the images suggest. It is impossible to accurately simulate the material, quality, or the way buildings change over the course of the day or in diifferent weather conditions. People are becoming familiar with the virtual and innately understand these conventions. In most situations the computer images give the client confidence : the early images help diminish misunderstandings or unrealistic expecttations and allow access to the project in a way which drawings cannot always do. This has also proved extremely useful with explaining the desired goal to subcontractors and suppliers. The computer-generated image has become part of our method of working with the computer, which also involves sketches, to establish concept and spatial intentions, and physical models to evolve the form. On this and other projects, we have worked closely with Bruce Darrell, manipulating computer-generated images as a progress tool, the level of detail evolving with the project. Decisions can therefore be made quickly on detail design issues, for instance the depth and position of fenestration in a fa ade and the effect of shadow.

editor : Like your earlier projects, you demoncessarily have been seen in the past as an opportunity for architects?

FKL : This is a building type which would always have been attractive to architects due to its extreme nature. In common with bridges, towers have an exaggerated proportion and the image ultimately is more significant than the function. This project could have been seen as an infrastructural project, and therefore as an engineering problem to be solved as simply as possible (as can be seen from examples all over the country). People in general, however, are becoming more conscious of their surroundings and commercial clients are aware of the positive benefits of a goood design image. In the design of this tower we have also attempted to solve this problem as simply as possible but in format not just functional terms. It can be seen as a monument to globalization and e-commerce sitting in a car park, the twentieth centtury's most enduring public space.

Fagan Kelly Lysaght Architects Architects established practice in 1997.