Athlone Castle is a Protected Structure and a National Monument, and is located on the west bank of the river Shannon. Scene of the 1691 siege of Athlone, the Castle is a site of National & International importance. A previous exhibition installation dating from 1991 was perceived to have shortcomings and did not fully exploit the story of the Castle or its prominent location..

Athlone Town Council sought expressions of interest from Design & Exhibition teams to design a new Visitor Centre for the Castle. Keogan Architects established & led an international design team, and invited Gareth Hoskins Architects (Scotland) to be our Joint Venture Partners, with Event Communications of London as exhibition designers. A strategy was devised for linking the disparate buildings and elements on the site to create a continuous coherent exhibition route, which also includes access for the disabled.

The interior spaces are organized as a series of exhibition galleries, with the highlight being a multi-media audio-visual presentation of the 1691 Siege of Athlone in the upper floor of the Keep. New-build elements are generally contrasted with the limestone exterior of the historic buildings, with glazed elements being particularly prominent. The Visitor Centre reopened to the public in 2012.