Mural unveiled at new student apartments in Cork city

A new mural has been unveiled in the city

Nido Student Accommodation commissioned the artwork at their Bandon Road location.

The leading European student accommodation operator, has unveiled a new public artwork at the Ashlin House accommodation complex, designed by Cork street artist, Peter Martin.

The local artist transformed the exterior of the student building with a 12m mural featuring a little girl looking across the nearby loch at a flock of geese taking flight, titled ‘Aisling Gheal’.

The mural represents the hundreds of students that call the Ashlin House student complex their temporary home, before migrating themselves once the summer comes.

Peter Martin, artist of the mural, commented: “Working with Nido to design and bring to life this scene has been an exciting project. As someone who grew up nearby the loch, I first hand understand the history and authentic nature of this beautiful spot – I’m so proud to have worked on this iconic piece of art.” 

Nido and Peter worked together to bring accessible artwork to people in the area, creating a tie between Ashlin House and the local community, while creating a feeling of home and security for the students.

Designed to emulate the fun and exciting times that the university can bring, the mural acts as an engaging and permanent part of the building for both students and the community to enjoy.

The Cork artist has become renowned for his 14 large format spray-painted works across the city.

The process he used for the mural is called digital glazing and consists of digitally scanning the original painting at a very high resolution and then printing and hand painting the art onto 560 porcelain tiles, all roughly the size of a vinyl record.

Darren Gardner, COO at Nido Student, comments: “The unveiling of the mural at Ashlin House marks a significant milestone as we welcome more students into the Nido network in Ireland. Working with a local artist helped us create a story that our students can identify with and the local community can enjoy- we are encouraging everyone to visit.” 

Ashlin House is Nido’s second residence in Cork.

Located on Bandon Road, it is home to over 500 students from the nearby MTU and UCC.