Point Village

The Watchtower is an apt description – a place to look out from, not something to look at. The top is awful, and the glazing generally uninspiring.
What a missed opportunity 🙁

The new look Point by contrast sounds fantastic; the capital will finally have a decent large scale performance venue. The seating sounds very similar in arrangement and capacity to the Globe Arena in Stockholm.

hopefully some pictures of the tower’s progress will be posted over the coming months.

i wonder was this skyscraper featured on the news recently? i saw nothing. i thought ireland’s first skyscraper would be in there somewhere.

it’s also not “news”… this has been on the cards for years and another 32 storey tower is under construction near heuston plus a 20 storey block was granted out in Sandyford and of course the U2 tower was recently approved. This really is no big deal..

Originally posted by Keen
Thats because this is something you just expect to find to find in a 21st century city. I was in both Brussels and Amsterdam recently and for cities not even the size of Dublin i was constantly looking up at their glassy towers. The recently built Dexia tower in Brussels in particular

Thats because those cities, like others in Western Europe, have been richer far longer than Ireland, until very recently an island isolated off the West coast, the poor man of Europe. Why build gleaming office blocks when there was no work, and why build tall apartments in a country with mass emigration? Now that has changed of course, and the building boom will lead to skyscrapers – a whole change of attitude is required amongst city planners – they know tourists love the low skyline (yes, they do!), but are finally coming around to the idea that ‘Urban Sprawl’ does not work, and will hopefully now build up in the docks.

Property developer Harry Crosbie will submit new proposals next week for his proposed Watch Tower skyscraper on Dublin’s North Wall Quay, opposite the new U2 Tower on the southern side of the Liffey.

Property developer Harry Crosbie will submit new proposals next week for his proposed Watch Tower skyscraper on Dublin’s North Wall Quay, opposite the new U2 Tower on the southern side of the Liffey.

Crosbie has hired a British company to help him revamp the design of the architects Scott Tallon Walker building, after the docklands authorities said the original design was too bland. The tower, which will be as tall as the Spire on O’Connell Street, is designed to complement the U2 tower on the opposite side of the river, which has a more radical design.

Crosbie’s tower is part of a €800 million development around The Point which received planning permission in November from the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA).

However, the DDDA was concerned that the tower was not radical enough in appearance for a structure that would act, along with the U2 tower, as a visual ‘‘gatepost’’ to Dublin.

At 36 floors, the tower will dwarf all buildings around it.

As things stand, the structure is designed to look like two glass posts with the top six floors protruding outwards to make way for an enclosed roof garden.

A spokesman for Harry Crosbie said a ‘‘fenestration’’ company had been hired in Britain to re-work the look and new plans were on the way.

‘‘The DDDA made a couple of negative comments about the tower, so Harry decided to have a second look at the whole thing and to redesign. We can’t say anything more at this stage, but the new design will go in in about a week’s time,” he said.

Planning permission was granted on the grounds that the Watch Tower building was amended, and construction of other parts of the scheme has already started.

The tower will include apartments, offices and a rooftop bar and restaurant with views over Dublin city and bay.

The scheme includes a new shopping centre, a hotel, underground car park and 12-screen cinema. Both the DDDA and Scott Tallon Walker declined to comment, directing all calls to Crosbie.

@Peter FitzPatrick wrote:

GOOD ! don’t know why he had to look to an english firm for help though, plenty of young firms here capable of producing something interesting.

Isn’t this the 3rd attempt? 1st was bland and the 2nd one (i.e. current version) wasn’t any better…

Yes it would be the second attempt to alter this tower.

It really is a hideous building though with that top-heavy capital. It is as if it’s attempting an ironic take on early 20th century skyscrapers, placing the wide pedestal base at the top instead.

Notably a new firm of architects haven’t been brought in that would ruffle STW’s feathers – rather a ‘fenestration company’ is to undertake the reordering. Surely they couldn’t undertake any major structural alterations?

an improvement i suppose but nothing special, looks quite familiar really …

this ‘gateway’ idea is a little basic, oh i know lets put a big high rise on this side & better still one to match on this side ! i have visions of driveway pillars with cast concrete eagles…

there needs to be some scaling up around both & preferably not exactly symmetrical DDDA ! otherwise its just gonna look like two big dicks :rolleyes:

I don’t mind Heuston Gate, think it will sit quite well, although obviously a lot depends on final materials spec etc, quite a safe design. However, it does look as if its basic outline is being replicated here, not sure if its the design or more this gateway concept that i have a problem with.