The Oval in Ballsbridge must be weighing heavy on the mind of some poor property developer somewhere. This fancy-dance complex, complete with a gym, a dreaded starbucks and a bizillion flats, offices and retail space, lies mostly dormant, awaiting good news from the global economy battle front.
I wonder how dated the cutting edge design may seem by the time this happens, or if there will even be any humans left to work in the offices. Maybe, the car park will no longer be necessary because, finally, we'll have perfected solar-powered matter deconstructing teleportation technology, or maybe it will just be underwater. Whatever happens, hopefully I'll be writing Yelp articles about the virtual reality hot-spot at Surface Station 13C on Mars.
Enough of that, I do like this swanky complex, I think the designers really tried their best and it works well. The problem is that it's so darn quiet and empty the whole thing feels like a mausoleum already. So, two stars. read more