Re: Re: Alto Vetro, grand canal docks, dublin

I must warn you that you’re just asking for a barrage of idiotic arguments against high rise: from the (false) claim that they would be out of place in what is essentially a low rise city, to the (equally false) argument that high rise buildings will not increase density in Dublin, as if that were even the point.

I totally agree that Dublin needs some high rise buildings. Such buildings are a crucial way for a capital city to express its openness to thinking big and remaining dynamic into the future. From a purely architectural perspective, skyscrapers create contrasts and shadows and sculptural effects undreamed of by those who are limited to a view of vast planes of five storey retail park fodder. I mean, was Georgian Dublin constructed at the same height, block after block? No. Variation was key to its success. The modern equivalent is a more substantial varying of heights – and nothing could be more contextual to Dublin than that. Anybody who surveyed Ireland’s account books for the last twenty years and then went to look at the docklands would be drawn to the inevitable conclusion that some kind of pathology is in effect here – a simple primeval fear preventing Dublin from getting it up like normal cities.