18th July 2013

Took a second trip to Spike Island on Thursday with the aim of gathering more detailed first hand information and data on the buildings within the fort. As well as this another important goal of the trip was to decide which would be the main areas of interest and therefore the areas that would be modelled in most detail and with most accuracy. This resulted in us focusing on three main spaces which were:

1. A Prison cell in the former NW casemated barracks - 'C' class cells

These cells are within a single-storey fifteen bay casemated building. The building is constructed of large coursed ashlar limestone blocks. Casemates (i.e. vaulted chambers) are brick vaulted and lined and all originally extended the full width of the building. Most areas inside this building now have modern internal finishes with cement floors and cementitious render to walls and ceilings. 

2. Former Prison Cell Block - Solitary confinement

These prison cells were much more oppressive and dark than the first block. The building was also constructed of ashlar limestone blocks. The building consists of a two-storey main block and a single-storey block extending north from the north-west corner. The interior is brick lined which had been plastered but has since been removed. There is a timber gallery which is supported on decorative iron brackets along cells to the first floor which is accessed by way of limestone steps with an iron handrail. This is reputedly the building where John Mitchell, the Irish nationalist activist and political journalist was incarcerated.

3. Bastion and Ramparts

The bastions were generally geometrically designed to defend unrestricted views of the moat along flanking walls. Each bastion has a flanking gallery with slender window openings to offer the best vantage points for defending the moat. The gun is in situ with associated stores of vaulted brick contraction with later concrete tunnel construction by the Irish Army providing access from the parade Ground via the casemate stores to the gun position.

I aim to model these three spaces in detail and then to model the rest of the buildings in the fort as external models only, with some of these structures being ruins as can be seen in the 1915 Building below.

We also performed some audio recordings within the three significant spaces in order to be able to replicate the aural properties of the spaces.