A new way of telling stories “in a city that’s full of stories” has been unveiled with a compelling collaboration between students at the world renowned TUS Limerick School of Art and Design and Limerick Twenty Thirty on hoardings at Opera Square.
Some 125m of hoarding around the site, which is being developed by Limerick Twenty Thirty, were set aside as a blank canvas for Graphic Design Communication and Animation Motion Design students from the school to imagine through illustrations what the future impact of the transformational project will have on the city. The fruits of the students’ creative labour have now been revealed with a range of interactive displays that come alive through use of the free ‘Artivive’ augmented reality mobile phone app that is downloadable from Google Play or iOS App Store.
The project is the second phase of illustrations on hoardings at the 3.7acre Opera Square site, with the new hoarding also including a collaboration with Limerick City and County Council with the installation of Limerick’s award winning ‘Atlantic Edge European Embrace’ brand graphics, which shine a spotlight on some of Limerick’s key attractions. The two collaborations merge with the Opera Square’s own branding materials to wrap the site in a seamless and engaging stream of imagery that celebrate the development itself, and its impact on Limerick city and county.
Commenting on the unveiling of the 125m of hoarding, CEO of Limerick Twenty Thirty David Conway said,
“Opera Square in terms of scale is one of the largest city centre projects under development in the country. That means we have a huge blank hoarding and rather than that being your standard mono-coloured canvas, we’re using it to showcase the computer-generated images of what Opera Square itself will look like, giving a glimpse to the public of what this transformational project for Limerick will look like. But, as part of our community engagement programme, also want to make this space available for others to work with.
“Naturally, it’s an opportunity for our partners in Limerick City and County Council to use to promote the city and in this instance, they’re using it to showcase the dynamic ‘Atlantic Edge European Embrace’ brand and the people and places that capture this. But we’ve also used this opportunity to partner with the TUS Limerick School of Art and Design on what has turned out to be a truly dynamic collaboration as they have used their graphic and animation skills to showcase the potential of the site. The final product leaves you in no doubt as to why the school has such a great reputation as it is both creative and interactive, with the use of the mobile app bringing it to life in a really exciting and interesting format.”
Said participating TUS Limerick School of Art and Design student Bukola Afolabi, “This was such a brilliant experience for us. We were given the task to represent the new space that will emerge here and what it’s about. My teammates and I wanted to represent the sense of community that will be here, the togetherness that will happen through work and play here. What we’ve come up with is a small snapshot of what life at Opera Square can and will be and we really enjoyed it. It makes you excited about the future for Limerick, for that sense of community that Opera Square will represent.”
