CLONAKILTY has been shortlisted for the Irish Architecture Awards which will take place later this month.

In total, six Cork entries made the shortlist for RIAI Public Choice vote

for Ireland’s favourite building of 2017.

On that shortlist is the ‘Clonakilty 400 Urban Design Masterplan, Phase 2’ for Cork County Council, which was designed by Cork County Council’s architects department.

The 2017 shortlist includes 60 projects across 13 counties and three international – in Hungary, Poland and Palestine, all of which have been designed by RIAI registered architects. While Dublin is strongly represented with 32 buildings or places on the list, there are entries from 13 counties across Ireland, including 2 from Northern Ireland.

Referring specifically to Clonakilty, a spokesperson commented: ‘Of particular note is the inclusion of the revitalisation of the town of Clonakilty, a project undertaken by Cork County Council.

The judges, in their report, stated: ‘When designing their public realm facelift with their town architect, Clonakilty was confidently ready for a new layer of contemporary functionality, lifestyle and urban sensibility and embracing public space as the town’s new living room.’

The other Cork finalists are: Beaufort Maritime and Energy Research Laboratory for University College Cork, designed by McCullough Mulvin Architects; Child's Play Tower, a tree house designed by architect Neil Kane for his daughter Ailbhe; Cork City Passive House, by Wain Morehead Architects, a design which included the demolition of an existing 1950s dwelling and its replacement with a contemporary, A1 rated, home; Fortress Spike Island designed by JCA Architects for Cork County Council. The project’s intention was to improve the visitor experience of the existing fort attractions; and the residential project Split House, planned by Simply Architecture.

To be considered for the shortlist, buildings must have been practically completed in 2016. The current centenary of celebrations is reflected in the shortlist with projects such as Kilmainham Courthouse, the renovation of Richmond Barracks and the Military Archives all included for consideration in the public vote.

A third of the projects on the shortlist are residential – both new builds and renovations offering a fascinating insight into new trends in house design; office buildings such as Slack’s European HQ and the new offices of legal firm, Arthur Cox, both in Dublin, are featured, as are projects of passion such as a child’s play tower in a garden in Cork.

The purpose of the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards is to celebrate the quality of current work by RIAI Members at home and abroad and to create awareness of the contribution that architects make to society for everyone’s benefit. Now in their 28th year, the RIAI are the premier architectural awards in Ireland.

The RIAI Irish Architecture Awards, sponsored by Gerflor, will be announced on Friday June 23rd at an awards dinner at the Mansion House, Dublin.

The 2016 RIAI Irish Architecture Public Choice award winner was the Public Space & Sculpture, Westport by Simon Wall of Mayo County Council.

A shortlist of 60 houses, offices, schools and colleges, heritage locations and public spaces has been announced and is available to view on the RIAI homepage www.riai.ie or www.riai.ie/publicchoice. Online voting is now open and will continue until Friday June 16th.