U2 in ‘favourites’Â’ row over studio
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U2 in ‘favourites’’ row over studio
The Sunday TimesA competition to design a studio for U2 in Dublin’s docklands has caused an international row after a British candidate claimed the band was showing favouritism. More than 500 bids to design the building, likely to be Dublin’s highest, were received by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) by last Friday’s deadline. They are believed to include a proposal from Frank Gehry, one of the world’s best-known architects and the designer of the Bilbao Guggenheim museum.
This news does not fill me with hope for a disciplined and level playing field in respect of comeptitions in ireland. Since the copy for the Times would have to logged before Thursday to allow for printing and distribution could mean that the process had already been skewed before the entries were recived on Friday. Also since the technical requirements of the brief were quite strict, perhaps over restrictive does this mean that they were used to justify restricting the opportunites so that others might transcend these requirements. I can see the jurors report “many of the entries failed to grasp the specific qualities of the locaiton we have decided to award the prize to Mr Starchitect because of his/her audacity to ignore the requirements to present a statement of unsurpassed genius”.
Exactly.
But the DDDA previous-run competition to design the bridge was kept very quiet indeed. I only heard about it when the winner was announced. There was little or no attempt to announced it to the wider architectural business outside of Ireland.
I believe that the DDDA may not have expected so many entrants. The page about the competition on Archiseek was viewed 8942 times. Huge interest.
I think the RIAI should issue a statement on this.
The competition, which has been prepared in association with the RIAI, is open internationally…….
I have asked the RIAI for a statement
As for the picture in the Sunday Times of “an entry to the competition”, it looked great, but as far as I can make out, wouldn’t be an acceptable entry.
Perhaps Paul can persuade the DDDA to publish a website of all the entries. And if the results of the competition indicated a difficulty of meeting the planning requirements maybe they could select 20 to 30 competitors (from the initial selection) to rework schemes based on relaxed conditions and the ideas involved in the first submission. I would be interested in seeing the design published in the times and how it meets or does not meet the requirements of the brief, as per the recent respondant to this forum has indicated.
regarding shadow’s point – google is returning this thread as very prominent results (most relevant) for searches on the tower, so biggo traffic will certainly pass through here (a la spike) when crunch time comes down…
fjp
from ddda.ie
In excess of 500 entries were received by the closing date of 12 noon 28th February 2003.In view of the large number of entries required to be first registered and checked against the regulators, it is not anticipated that the jury will be called to meet for at least a month to six weeks.
ya, i mean gehry produces such original designs these days that what dublin really needs to reach the pantheon of global cities is another gehry-by-numbers… then we’ve made it!
sw101 – they should just give it to gehry
Any particular reason? Have you seen something the rest of us haven’t? Or is this just a blind piece of Gehry worship?
I agree, I have’nt seen the design…..but it should be given to a big name. I’m sure Gehry would produce something of a focal point and a talking point for everyone….and that’s what Dublin needs to put it up there with the big guns of cities today…..else it will just stagnate and fade back into the doldrums of insignificance. ZZzzzzzzzzzz!
The whole point of an anonymous competition is to allow architects to compete on their merits rather than their reputation. Maybe there is someone out there better than Gehry!
Ok, lets see what this means. 500 entries, thats €50,000 in fees, assume another €100 per entry for just mounting, post production etc., thats another €50,000. Assume an average of €50 per entry for carriage (post etc. some arrived by hand), that’s another €25,000. If each entrant spent an average of 100 hours on the project, assume an average, really low (due to the possibility of students, unpaid work, uncharged work by offices etc) of €20 an hour, that’s another €1,000,000. Is a picture emerging yet. The DDDA are offering a single prize, it seems of €12,000 which in light of above a ridiculous reward for the investment above. Assume that 20% of the entries ustilised speicalist 3d cad services and other production systems at a cost of about €1,000 per entry, then we would have another €100,000 making a grand total of €1,225,000 (€1.225 million). At the very least the DDDA should invest in prublising the results in a book and CD format. Even if the cost of this is €10,000, they would still have a profit of €28,000 (not counting expenses), not to mention the sheer level of publicity surrounding the competition. Mind you it shows the level of frustration out there and the demand for more access to the market…. Hope this makes sense. Maybe I should run my own competition, the free design services garnered are remarkable.
It’s gonna be a ridiculous competition if we think it should be given to somebody just because he/she has a big name such as gehry. Is it fair to all the competitors?
if they really want a big name for this building, why don’t they just ask gehry, zaha, koolhass or whoever has a big name to have this project rahter than hold a competition.
P.S. this competition is the most confusing competition I have ever encountered. no clear schedule, hardly get a reply from them after you ask them questions via e-mail. difficulty of meeting the planning requirements.very expensive entry fee……
I totaly agree with shadow.
I will simply quote vitruvius as his writing holds alotf wisdom that is often ignored in our times.
“As for philosophy, it makes an architect high-minded and not self-assuming, but rahter renders him courteuos, just and honest without avariciousness. This is very important, for no work can be rightly done without honesty and incorruptibility. Let him not be grasping nor have his mind preoccupied with the idea of receiveing perquisites, but let him with dignity keep up his position by cherishing a good reputation. These are among the preceps of philosophy”
Vitruvius, The ten books of Architecture. Book 1 Chapter 1 “The education of the architect” Section 7
So whilst it may not be possible to remove the members of U2 from the jury. It would be highly commended for Frank Gehry to remove himself or withdraw from the competition. He was not after all present (or indeed refused) to enter the competition for the World Trade Centre Sites
“Frank Gehry won few friends by refusing to take part, suggesting the $40,000 fee for participants was demeaning. “
Deyan Sudjic
Sunday February 2, 2003
The Observer
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