Real Landmark for Dublin
- This topic has 68 replies, 25 voices, and was last updated 21 years, 11 months ago by
.
- Posts
Does anyone know where I can find drawings/drafts of the entries that failed to make it unlike the Spire?
some folk in a UK skyscraper forum discussing our tallest buildings.
They call Liberty Hall “cute” as it is only 13 stories high 😀
http://www.hoogbouw.nl/uksf/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?forum=8&topic=3Christ, that was a long bloody thread in that UK forum!! – i gave up reading when i realsied how long it went on – still, a lot of discussion about Dublin for a foreign architecture website – especially as one of the commentators said that it was UK only skyscrapper site?
yeah, but if you keep reading, it turns into a discussion about the quality of pints of Guinness
and then, and I’m the only person I know who actually likes Limerick City, there’s an argument about how much better Limerick is than Dublin.
There we go again…..another portrayal from the outside of us Irish as being small, insignificant, insular and thick……..aka leprecauns and all that…….probably worried in case we may challange the height of Canada House in Canary Wharf, Europes tallest building…..and well done to them for that.
But after all what other country on planet earth puts the word ‘great ‘before it’s name. However maybe stereotypes of nationalities are true, maybe we are thick, insular and insignificant….well given the recent debacles over building the most fundalmental and basic of things that a modern society require.The Auckland Sky Tower is 328m tall. It is a totally different prospect to the spike and would need a good site on which to be placed.
The tower has a large complex around the base which houses a casino and bars and restaurants.
Details can be found at http://www.skyscrapers.com/english/worldmap/building/0.9/120177/
Don’t forget that the observation deck on Liberty Hall is used for paper storage.
Makes you think…
fjp
Originally posted by fjp
Don’t forget that the observation deck on Liberty Hall is used for paper storage.Makes you think…
fjp
makes me think that is a very bad place for storing paper in. it will get moist and expand and contract something horrific. But thats just the bookbinder in me talking.
RE: New Zeland,
They use the 13-storey Novotel Hotel in Auckland for ‘rap jumping’ – i.e. you start running off the top of the building and then keep running until a harness grabs you, hmmm… wonder if Siptu would cover that in their facilities insurance.Yeah that’s true.
They also have a controlled free fall of the Sky Tower 192m up. You are attached to a verticle cable by a harness. When you jump you free fall for a while and then you gradually come to stop at the bottom, landing safely on your feet.
But then in New Zealand they’ll do anything for a thrill.
Just to clarify – the papers are actually indoors, behind glass, so I presume moisture is minimised. Terrorism?? Me no quite understand, but I was told the Liberty Ob deck was closed due to suicides/potential suicides (ie, self terrorism). No third party terrorist reasons were mentioned.
fjp
Well i think in the ’70’s a bomb shattered much of the glass cladding and thereafter the observation deck was closed… Those responsible for the bombing at Liberty Hall (and also at Sackville Place i think ?!?) was the cause of some debate, with both the IRA and British Intelligence suspected…
[quote
I believe Dublin and Ireland need a structure of this stature, to provide us with the same kind of identity. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t as Auckland is also a city of circa 1 million and New Zealand has a population similar to Ireland’s. The only difference is that our economy is in a much stronger position. [/B][/QUOTE]I have long held a similar view. Most of our modern public statuary and architecture is a disgrace (the latter has improved in the boom period), and the lack of a tourist facility of this kind is a major gap in the Eblanascape. Ideally such a structure should greet the arriving visitor or be siuated on the central plain. One problem is to find a noble value such as Liberty to be embodied by the structure– the present Spike is a pathetic abstraction from that point of view.
Idealism aside, a colossal stylised harp-shaped tower that would fulfiull the same tourist function as the Eiffel tower is one possibility. I believe Dublin would benefit from an overhead transport route from North to South of the centre, and this structure could also provide that– rather like a switchback, but not ugly. There would also be a port for future air vehicles.
alphasunOriginally posted by alphasun
Idealism aside, a colossal stylised harp-shaped tower that would fulfiull the same tourist function as the Eiffel tower is one possibility[/B]lol! begorrah.
Originally posted by Rory W
Keep taking the pills…I need them to stand Dublin’s architecture (with some honourable exceptions, mainly recent).
I thought the French example (much derided when it was first put up) might be received favourably, since a French building is featured on this site. Is that because our more venerable buildings have British associations?
What would be a suitable theme for a large-scale monument in your view?
alphasunI think when the Spire is erected, we’ll all realise just how elegant a design it is, simple and understated. The Skytower in Auckland is not really the example we necessarily want to be following – it’s clunky and there are as already pointed out, several similar things, around the world. I doubt visitors will ever come specificially to see the Spike but I think it will become one of Dublin’s defining landmarks. Re: viewing towers – there are two good ones already in the city, one of which doesn’t even attract that many visitors.
I think a giant novelty harp would be as interesting as a 120-metre high pint of Guiness or another enormous crucifix. No doubt some people would like it but is it really the emblem we want of Dublin.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
