A NEW way of telling stories “in a city that’s full of stories” can be seen on hoardings at the Opera Square development site in Limerick City centre.
125 metres of hoarding has been used by students from the TUS Limerick School of Art and Design to give their view of what the impact of the transformational project will have on the city.
The Limerick Twenty Thirty company set aside the hoarding as a blank canvas for Graphic Design Communication and Animation Motion Design students from the school which is a short distance from the site.
The fruits of their 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 3.7 acre Opera Square site. Limerick City and County Council has already installed the award-winning ‘Atlantic Edge European Embrace’ brand graphics, which promote some of Limerick’s top attractions.
The two collaborations merge with the Opera Square’s own branding materials to wrap the site in a seamless stream of imagery that celebrate the development itself, and its impact on the city and county.
Limerick Twenty Thirty chief executive David Conway said rather than covering the hoarding in standard mono-coloured canvas, they were 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.
Limerick School of Art and Design Dean of Faculty Mike Fitzpatrick said it was an exciting project for Limerick and for the Art School.
“I love the confidence that Limerick Twenty Thirty is approaching this project with because this is on a totally different level. And I’m so delighted that Limerick Twenty Thirty has reached out and we’re so honoured to be part of it.”
Bukola Afolabi, one of the students who participated in the project, said they wanted to represent the sense of community and togetherness that will happen in the area.
“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,” she explained.
