New Public Space for Docklands

From the Irish Times, Sat Jan 14
Docklands redesign to be ‘urban magnet’
By Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) has unveiled a radical redesign by an award-winning American landscape architect for Grand Canal Square, with the aim of transforming it into an “urban magnet” for the south docks area.

The square, at the west end of Grand Canal Dock, will be one of the largest paved public spaces in the city. The new Grand Canal Theatre, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind, and the Meridien hotel will both open on to it as well as shops, cafes and restaurants.

Martha Schwartz’s design features a red “carpet”, made from bright resin-glass paving, extending from the theatre into the dock, crossed by a lush green “carpet” of polygon-shaped planters. Angled red-glowing “light sticks” will sprout from the red paving.

The planters will feature marsh vegetation to soften the space and to act as a reminder of the historic wetland nature of the site, according to the docklands authority’s architecture director, John McLaughlin.

The €8 million project will replace a smaller paved space built over an underground car park. “The opportunity arose to substantially extend and reconfigure the space, increasing its area from 4,000sq m to almost 10,000sq m,” Mr McLaughlin told The Irish Times.

The extra space was gained by incorporating a roadway in front of the Meridien hotel – designed by Portuguese architect Manuel Aires Mateus to look as if hewn from a block of stone – as well as the campshire on the east side of the square and extending it into the dock basin.

“We are delighted that this project will make the public space the focus of the development. The fact that it will open on to a large non-tidal body of water will make it a unique space in Dublin. Such spaces have traditionally only occurred in Mediterranean cities.”

Granite paving from the existing square, laid out just two years ago, will be recycled in the new design to create paths across the square in every direction while still allowing for the space to host major public events such as festivals and performances.

The docklands authority sees the square becoming a “stage” for street performance, supplemented by the dramatic glazed undercroft of the Grand Canal Theatre – now due to start construction in April – which “will light up at night to reveal spectators as actors on the urban stage”.

The coloured lighting, designed by Martha Schwartz in collaboration with Edinburgh based Spiers and Major Associates, will illuminate the square, adding to this “theatrical experience”. The docklands authority and the designers are looking at ways to make this lighting interactive.

Boston-based Ms Schwartz has more than 25 years experience as a landscape architect and artist, winning numerous awards including an honorary fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects and design awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects. She is a part-time professor of landscape architecture at Harvard University’s graduate school of design. Recent projects include the private residence of Sheikh Saud Al-Thani in Qatar; the master plan for Baltimore’s inner harbour; and Manchester’s Exchange Square.

It is envisaged that construction of the new Grand Canal Square will begin next month and be completed in phases in tandem with the surrounding buildings. The last phase will coincide with the delivery of the 2,000-seat theatre in 2008.

Another major DDDA project in the pipeline is a 1km linear park on the banks of the Royal Canal.Projects already completed by the authority include remaking the campshires – the areas between the roads and quay walls – to provide attractive areas for people to sit, walk or cycle.