The Dignity of Everyday Life: Celebrating Michael Scott’s Busáras Hardcover – February 7, 2022 by Eoin Ó Broin

Description

Author: Ó Broin Eoin

Package Dimensions: 0x0x788

Number Of Pages: 224

Release Date: 07-02-2022

Details: Product Description
Michael Scott’s Áras Mhic Dhiarmada and Busáras is one of the most important modernist buildings in Ireland. Built between 1947 and 1953, it was intended to be a bus station like no other, providing ordinary working people with a range of amenities including a roof-top restaurant, incredible panoramic views of Dublin, a crèche, and a 24-hour newsreel cinema. It was to be a microcosm of the city, providing dignity, comfort, and convenience to bus users. From its inception the project was gripped in controversy. Construction ground to a halt for three years as Government and opposition argued over the merits and uses of the building. In the end it became home to the Department of Social Protection and Bus Éireann’s provincial bus services. Despite receiving widespread acclaim for its architectural and design innovations, today it is a much maligned and misunderstood building. In this exciting collaboration, writer Eoin Ó Broin and photographer Mal McCann explore the vision behind Áras Mhic Dhiarmada and Busáras, and celebrate the energy, creativity, and neglect of this incredible example of Irish modernist architecture and design.
Review
“It is very well written and has been rightly and critically acclaimed for the descriptiveness of Eoin’s prose and for its historic detail. He tells the story of an egalitarian effort, led by pioneering architect Michael Scott, to create a building, uniquely Irish, utilitarian yet uplifting.” —
The Irish Echo
About the Author
Eoin Ó Broin is TD for Dublin Mid-West and Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Housing. He is the author of five books, including
Home: Why Public Housing is the Answer (Merrion Press, 2019) and
Defects: Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger (Merrion Press, 2021).
Mal McCann is from Belfast and he has been working as a photographer since 1994. He joined
The Irish News in 2007 and has won a number awards, including NI Press Photographer of the Year in 2018.