Irish identity: the social and urban fortunes of a provincial Irish town are revived by this bold new civic centre.

To Dubliners, Athlone, at the very centre of Ireland, seems a distinctly provincial place. But this recently-completed civic centre, incorporating a new public library and prefaced by an ambitious central square, underlines the town's ambitions to emerge from relative obscurity, gain city status and participate fully in the ongoing Irish economic and cultural renaissance.

Athlone's strategic position--'the capital of the Irish midlands', located on the river Shannon, on the route from Dublin to Galway and on the border of the historic provinces of Connacht and Leinster--formed its often-violent history. In 1691, in the aftermath of the Protestant victory at the Boyne, much of the town was reduced to ruins and many of the inhabitants slaughtered by William of Orange's forces, following a siege. The castle and barracks (now used by the Irish Army) on the west bank of the Shannon became a centre of British power, while the settlement east of the river in Leinster was colloquially known as 'Irish town'.

Lacking the status of a county town (the river here is the boundary between the counties of Roscommon and Westmeath), Athlone is not rich in fine architecture. This is the heartland of Catholic Ireland and churches still define the landscape. More recently, the imperative to develop the town has resulted in a number of unfortunate new developments in the town centre, alongside the usual edge-of-town sprawl.

The site for the new civic centre and square is in the eastern (Leinster/Westmeath) quarter of the town, just off the main artery that leads to the river and immediately behind St Mary's Church (grim Protestant Gothic, but a key historic landmark). A section of the ancient town wall--memories of the 1691 siege--traverses it. The site was created by demolishing the former council offices, an undistinguished house that was crudely extended in the 1970s, surrounded by run-down industrial premises. Ireland's National Buildings Agency had drawn up a masterplan for the site, within which Keith Williams Architects (KWA) worked. The brief was for a flagship regeneration project that was to be the new public face of Athlone. Around 70 staff work in the completed building which incorporates a council chamber, meeting rooms and offices, together with a one-stop shop for the public, and a public library to replace the very modest facility located in a former temperance hall.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The process of devolution and restructuring of local government in Ireland that generated the project has been under way for some years. Given the strength of the Irish architectural scene, it is not surprising that most of the commissions for new civic buildings across the country have gone to home-grown practices. The new civic offices at Tubbercurry, County Sligo, by McCullough Mulvin (AR May 2004) and the dramatic county hall at Dooradoyle, County Limerick (AR May 2004), by the young partnership of Bucholz McEvoy, are just some examples of an imaginative commissioning strategy.

The entire civic building programme of recent years has addressed a key issue: what form should a public building take in the twenty-first century? For Bucholz McEvoy at Dooradoyle, the lack of any historic context helped generate a radical form. KWA, in contrast, was faced with a town centre site close to venerated historic landmarks. Since the 1980s, of course, Irish architecture has been conspicuously contextual--the landmark Temple Bar development in Dublin (AR January 1993) was the work of architects such as Derek Tynan, O'Donnell and Tuomey, and Shay Cleary who were influenced by the urbanistic approach of Colin Rowe, James Stirling and Aldo Rossi.

Sensitive as it is to its context, KWA's Athlone project owes little to Irish exemplars, even of a recent vintage. If anything, indeed, the civic centre looks back to the international Modernist tradition that informed the work of an earlier generation of architects in Ireland and in Britain. Viewed from the new public square to the south, the building is a taut, formal composition that clearly expresses the functions it contains. The library occupies the wing to the left, with offices behind. A full-height foyer serves both this wing and the formal civic spaces located in the flanking eastern wing.

Most small towns in Ireland, including Athlone, are characterized by a preponderance of sombre grey render, though the recent fashion for painting up buildings in vivid colour has added an element of variety. Seeking to avoid the starkness of Meieresque all-white, Williams opted to clad the building in off-white terrazzo, a durable material that should withstand the distinctly damp local climate. The northern elevation of the building--the site falls away sharply on this side--is altogether more informal. Currently it addresses a parking area, but the ongoing implementation of the masterplan, which includes a major retail centre, will see a new square developed here, surrounded by housing.

The 18m high, top-lit central atrium space is essentially a big front door (and an extremely generous gesture in a building of 4200[m.sup.2]). Yet along with the new square, it is precisely the gesture that a town looking to enhance its status clearly needs. Internally, finishes are kept very simple, with unpainted plaster and fair-faced concrete providing a neutral aesthetic relieved by timber and good quality furnishings (furniture was specially selected by the architects.)

The main library space is a double-height volume facing south: fixed concrete louvres combat solar gain on those days when the sun shines on Athlone. The children's library and creche, together with a specialist research library housing an outstanding collection of books about Ireland, are accommodated on the lower ground level to the north. The rare books library occupies a climate-controlled space while the remainder of the building is naturally ventilated, with opening windows where appropriate. Not ground-breaking in the Alsop/Adjaye sense, Athlone's new library is calm and well-organized, an agreeable place to browse or read. Moveable shelving allows for reconfiguration where necessary. Three floors of council offices and meeting rooms are slotted in above and behind the library. Well-lit, with views out to north and south, they are a cut above the typical local authority workspace.

To the south of the atrium, the one-stop shop serves local residents seeking advice on council services. Above is the double-height council chamber, normally seating 20 members. Fixed furniture and panelling are made of walnut, its rich texture offset by the austere concrete-beamed roof with a Kahnian central oculus. The public is admitted to a gallery on the floor above, while the roof terrace is reserved for members--a good place to observe the transformation of their town.

With a start on site late in 2002, the civic centre was recently handed over to its users. The public square was the last element in the scheme to be completed. Lengthy negotiations with the Church of Ireland rector were necessary before a narrow slice of church land was ceded to expand the square and to integrate St Mary's Church into the new public domain. The treatment of the surviving fragment of town wall was the subject of detailed discussions with Duchas (the Irish equivalent of English Heritage). The great strength of the completed square is its simplicity and the absence of extraneous features.

Keith Williams's response to the challenge of creating a municipal monument for a new age is both confident and convincing, an assured performance that rejects both visual gimmickry and the tendency to sentimental nationalism that infuses, for example, the Wales Millennium Centre. Both architect and client deserve recognition for the fidelity with which this beacon of regeneration has been realized.