Button Factory

Originally launched 12 years ago as The Temple Bar Music Centre, the club was absolution to the growing demand for a space to showcase touring bands from abroad and up and coming local acts, who were attracted to the Centre by its adjoining recording and rehearsal studios.

The venue has served this purpose for many years, welcoming the likes of Sinead O’ Connor, Van Morrison, Snow Patrol, Elvis Costello and The Coral. But owner Paddy Dunning wanted the venue to be more than just a functional space. He explained:

“I wanted to separate the venue from the Music Centre by re-designing the club, increasing the capacity to 750 and installing a state-of-the-art PA and lighting system as part of a whole refit. I wanted it to be more user friendly with a bigger performance space, so we took out the back wall and carpeted it to give it a rich, warm feel and sound.”

Dunning’s desire to become a rock star at the age of 17 led him to form the Temple Lane Studios in Dublin’s stylish downtown area in the early 80s. “There was no money in the 80s; there was mass unemployment and everyone took up an instrument as a way of travelling. But there were no studios to rehearse in so we set up 22 rooms and by ’86 we had 150 bands passing through each week.”

The four-storey site is now a myriad of recording facilities. Dunning’s original Temple Lane Studios is joined by The Sound Training Centre, which offers sound engineering courses on the third floor, while a rehearsal studio is housed down in the basement.

The club, which was partly funded by government money originally, has always operated a diverse music policy, featuring international acts, local bands on the up and big club nights playing anything from rock to rap to reggae, and this will continue at The Button Factory. But, following a £1.75 million investment, the club now looks and sounds completely different. The transformation was challenging in terms of the time constraints due to the venue bookings, says Project Manager Pat Greene of main contractors Ashcoin Fitout Ltd.

“We had 12 weeks from 1 July to put in three new bars, a new dancefloor, stage, roof garden, lights, electrics, sound booth and an extended balcony with seating. But the main challenge was to take out the columns and replace them with horizontal support for the roof, in order to increase sight lines to the stage,” said Greene.

Dunning tasked Design Farm with the challenge of turning what was essentially a “corridor, box, bar and toilets” into a rich, colourful and comfortable destination venue for a contemporary audience. Dunning praises the award-winning Design Farm as one of Ireland’s major players in interior design. The company’s Brian McDonald explained that the club had become outdated in its design and technology and “wasn’t very sexy”.

His brief was to turn that on its head and create the best medium sized venue in Dublin, if not the whole of Ireland. He wanted to achieve intimacy, great sight lines, superior sound and light, comfort and an overall great experience for the customer.

“We wanted to soften the space, and create corners and sight lines,” says McDonald. “We brought the balcony forward closer to the stage and linked it to side balconies. To create softness we added nice wall paneling, a carpet running back to the bar area, red velvet curtains and seating areas, which we designed and had made in Eastern Europe by Beechnut Development.”

The venue now sports a sleek and sexy design optimised for live performances and club nights. The balcony can seat 90 people with a great view of the stage. There are three VIP rooms for the more discerning customer and a comfortable, carpeted bar area at the back of the polished wooden dancefloor. The roof garden was a key talking point of the design, wooden decking gives it a sleek modern feel whilst heavy investment in acoustic treatment means nearby residents are protected from noise by a 20’ wooden wall.

McDonald is also proud of the design of the bars. “We played around with the bar and put in new bar backs that include a combination of bronze and blue mirror in a brick pattern and cantilevered shelves, so that when you stand back it looks like jewels,” he says.

The investment also spread to create a state-of-the-art infrastructure, which includes an L’Acoustics system and a Digidesign VENUE D-Show Profile console, which was supplied by local distributors Big Bear Sound. This marks the club’s move from analogue to digital. The process gathered pace once two outside investors - ex-Rí-Rá co-owner Eoin Foyle and POD Concerts boss John Reynolds - were brought in.

Reynolds, who also promotes the Electric Picnic festival and operates the mighty Tripod venue in Dublin, had purchased two large-format Digidesign VENUE D-Show consoles for Tripod, and suggested a VENUE system for The Button Factory.
David Best, Button Factory’s resident engineer, plans to offer full multitrack recording and will install an Apple Mac Pro-based Digidesign Pro Tools|HD 2 Accel system at front of house.

Dunning’s long-term goal for the venue is to continue developing high standards of service and technology for both the artist and the customer. To this end his staff are currently in training to upgrade their service and a friendlier door policy is being put in place, with the help of GM Dave Allen. Physical developments are still underway too; the front of the club is being redesigned to be more colourful and resemble a lit up stage.

The Button Factory and its surrounding facilities make the Temple Bar Music Centre one of the busiest music complexes in the whole of Europe, with over 100 bands visiting the site each week. With many of these acts filtering through to the club, and some recording live albums when they’re there, The Button Factory looks set to weave further landmark events into the culturally rich tapestry of its history.