Alto Vetro, grand canal docks, dublin

[Yixian]

Wait.. What's this then?



Not Aqua Vetro?

[Cathal Dunne]

Not Aqua Vetro?

No, that's a Zaha Hadid proposal for the northside of the Docks for Treasury Holdings. It was a runner-up design in the U2 Tower competition. Aqua Vetro is the greeny-black glassy building behind Montevetro(which is in the right foreground) in the image below -



Aqua Vetro should be approximately 24 stories tall which, assuming that each floor is 3.5 metres would give a total height of 84 metres - 40% taller than Liberty Hall. It should be launched publicly next year and finished in 2012 when, we hope, a recovery in the Irish economy will mean it will have little trouble finding tenants.

[Yixian]

Argh, I see.

I read an article saying that the Hadid is going to be built after all. True/false?

I'll try find the link.

[thebig C]

No, that's a Zaha Hadid proposal for the northside of the Docks for Treasury Holdings. It was a runner-up design in the U2 Tower competition. Aqua Vetro is the greeny-black glassy building behind Montevetro(which is in the right foreground) in the image below -



Aqua Vetro should be approximately 24 stories tall which, assuming that each floor is 3.5 metres would give a total height of 84 metres - 40% taller than Liberty Hall. It should be launched publicly next year and finished in 2012 when, we hope, a recovery in the Irish economy will mean it will have little trouble finding tenants.

BTW, I think alot of modern 3rd/4th generation offices run with a floor-ceiling height of 4-4.5 meters which would put Aqua at least in 96m upwards bracket?

[Cathal Dunne]

BTW, I think alot of modern 3rd/4th generation offices run with a floor-ceiling height of 4-4.5 meters which would put Aqua at least in 96m upwards bracket?

I suppose. I have no idea of what the height of each floor will be in Aqua Vetro - I was just assuming a notional height and multiplying it by 24. Your estimate seems to be more accurate than mine. Once it's taller than the Elysian in Cork and the Obel Tower in Belfast, it will be tall enough!

[rob mc]

Just wondering, is that picture above of aqua vetro the finished product, or just there to give us an idea of the size and scale of the project?

And does it even have planning permission yet?

[Keen]

http://www.kgi.ie/index.php?p=projects&id=1072

It's fairly prominent but definately not overbearing, yet. Have to wait till the steel core is erected to get a true sense of it's bulk. I agree it's bulkiness could be a slight issue.

BUMP

Any recent pics? The webcam has been down for weeks...

[alonso]

there's lots of steel there now, if that's any help

[rob mc]

Steel must be up to about the 10th floor now, only have the pic off the website tho, can anybody get any pics of a side view?

[mickmick]

pics of monte vetro taken from Grand Canal Dock. Sorry for the poor quality but they were taken with a phone and the light wasn't great.

M

[johnny-21]

Nearly to the top floor.... On Flickr by turgidson
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=monte+vetro+dublin&s=rec

[Cathal Dunne]

There's a lot more mass to Montevetro now that the steel skeleton is emerging. I must head down there in the next few weeks to see how it looks in reality. Fair play again to Treasury Holdings for pressing on with this development, it looks a cut above other proposals in Dublin and is keeping lots of builders in much-needed jobs for the next few months.

[cgcsb]

Has anyone seen it in the last week? surely the frame must be finished? Also I hear the new theatre will open in a few months as will Lansdowne rd. stadium. Inner Dublin4 is really shaping up nice

[alonso]

Yeh it's really taking shape now.

Theatre due early 2010, Lansdowne August 2010, but Macken St Bridge and the O2 Luas will be open in December

[Yixian]

Still, D4 is still up in the air until they finally decide on what form the Ballsbridge development will take..

Jeez, I wish they had just let the first high rise plan go ahead, One Berkley Court would have been spectacular.

[Cathal Dunne]

Jeez, I wish they had just let the first high rise plan go ahead, One Berkley Court would have been spectacular.

I agree. I can't stand Seán Dunne as a person, but his plans for the area were very dramatic, confident and would have added a lot to Ballsbridge. It's so unfortunate that his plans were shot down.

[thebig C]

The Landmark 37 storey building was truely excellant. The rest of the surrounding 6-15 storey brink slab sided buildings were absolute dross.

However, rather predictably it was the tower which drew all the ire from the ususl suspects and the good citizens of D4. In fact before ABP shot the whole thing down, Dublin City Council were prepared to let the development go ahead minus the tower!......proof if it were needed that they are purely concerned with height not quality!

C

[Yixian]

It seems like the only high rise proposals with enough funds and support to be built are proposed in areas where they are obviously going to be rejected, whereas every tower planned for the Docklands seems to be financially doomed from the outset..

And the result, Dublin is still flat as a pancake.

There are minor cities in Australia with more scrapers than have ever even been proposed for the Docklands. You don't even need to be in a boom to have a high rise business district. This is a real mess and needs to change, say what you will of towers but the psychological effect of high rise districts does attract certain kinds of people and investment and if Dublin wants to shake any remaining "provincial" stereotypes then it should really get this mini-Manhatten project going already..

[thebig C]

Some pics from Flickr....with thanks to turgidson:))

http://www.flickr.com/photos/turgidson/4125740351/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/turgidson/4170037593/

Really starting to take on its shape. Perhaps a little looming and bulky in some shots. However, the glazing is pretty good, and we really won't know the impact until its finished. Also, all the shots are on very gloomy (Irishy) days when things tend to look at their most drab and worst and I reckon its still not half bad.

C

[rumpelstiltskin]

This is run-of-the-mill office crap. What a shame that we have to look at this as some sort of landmark, because the real landmarks all get refused.

[Yixian]

At least it's presentable and looks a bit more solid and impressive than some of the 90's office blocks along the Liffey, that look they've been bought and self-assembled from Ikea.

But I guess we're going to have to wait until the money returns in 2013+ before, under the new high rise policy, the decent projects proposed in the last 5 or 6 years can actually go ahead/be completed.

[thebig C]

This is run-of-the-mill office crap. What a shame that we have to look at this as some sort of landmark, because the real landmarks all get refused.

So true!! The bland proposals sail through planning because, by their very nature imaginative, daring and ambitious projects attract all the attention. Attention=objections!

[Keen]

So true!! The bland proposals sail through planning because, by their very nature imaginative, daring and ambitious projects attract all the attention. Attention=objections!

What else do you expect in such a location? The Gherkin it is not and it never pretended to be. It's a bulky corporate office block. It's situated beside a DART station in a cluster of knowledge-based company headquarters. To me, that's a step in the right direction. If i was a large Multinational looking to locate in Dublin i'd have my eyes on it.

[The Denouncer]

Breaking news: I have it on very good authority that the workers have been locked out of the Montevetro as it's been claimed by NAMA. Yes all work has CEASED on this building.

[darkman]

Are you 100% sure about this? The building is nearly finished. They should at least complete the facade to stop us ending up with another shell foreign journalists can gawk at to show what a state our property market is in.