Portlaoise 1916 Memorial Garden and Civic Space

In Commemoration of the 1916 rising, the practise has designed a garden and civic space to the front of the County Building in Portlaoise.

The space is laid out with the garden at its core but the use of raised, linear planting beds means the space also acts as a thoroughfare for users of the County Building with access to nearby parking and the main street.

The design, which includes 7 mature oak trees to represent the signatories of the proclamation also integrates the existing statue of James Fintan Lalor, a revolutionary writer from the nineteenth century whose writing inspired the Easter Rising revolutionaries, with the rest of the space.

Visitors can read the proclamation text in both Irish and English, sit amongst the planting and reflect on times past and present…or they can simply enjoy the garden as a recreational place.