spire speak

Ah the famous Dublin charm and Begrudery, tourists must love it…

Seriously though, their main compaint is “it doesn’t do anything” – is art supposed to do something? Other than be admired?

I’ve long-since ceased to be amazed about how people always diss things before the are introduced/built, and then suddenly claim to have liked them all along once they see how good they are. It’s the same with the LUAS – everybody grumbles about the construction disruption, but wait until its finished and ask if it should be taken away!

As regards the Spire, while I was there last night watching the 4th section being hoisted up, a very loud and drunken man was regailing the crowd with his tales of what a waste of money it was etc.

He told us all how the planners are not in touch with the people, and have no respect for the city . . . before throwing the rubbish from his half-eaten takeaway meal onto the pavement and walking away . .

Gabriel

I really despise those same idiots who with half baked notions of Das Capital etc ….profess the wanting conditions of the homeless, the unemployables, the socialist workers proleterian peoples communist capitalist facist party and the likes, yet they do SFA to deal with such matters, do not follow through their own ideology but instead, mess the city itself up with those billboard posters pasted everywhere, cause disruption and feed the negative hysteria to all those who are vunerable and naive.

Another guy was actually thrown into the back of a police van for his vociferous dissing of the Spire!

Overall the tone of the evening was quite positive I thought!

welcome sherrioverseas by the way!

So do you think that the people of Dublin & Ireland have warmed to the Spire now that it is almost in place?

I was at home before Christmas when the first section was installed and a lot of people were quite negative about it but for no real solid reasons, I hope opinions are changing now!

Originally posted by sherrioverseas

If city planners are not in touch with the people, then I’d have to ask why the project seems to be the single most talked about (and watched) event.

Accidental I believe. I believe that the interest shown by the people in the erection of the spike was not foreseen by the City Council. if they had, they would have stagemanaged each piece been added.

I agree Paul. Its that general attitude that pervails in the DCC that the Council runs the city for the people but that the people should have no envolvement in its running – apart from the local elections every 4 years when their local TD, MEP and CC in one comes around to ask them if they need any social welfare entitlements…I mean for their vote.

If the DCC were really people orientated then they would have had a site on their (very poor) website dedicated to the Spire rather than the a few posted press releases.

There may have been many fine additions to the city over the past few year but the DCC hasn’t made much effort to make citizens proud of them or appreciative of them….hence the litter, the broken lights on the 2 year old Millennium Bridge, the graffitti on the Boardwalk.

I have to agree about the lack of apparent pr from the council. I am however gratefull they had the foresight to run with this really incredible project.

Personally I would have had tingles run down my spine if the ground works had been complete before the last piece went in, how I am sure the architects had a say in the logistics of the construction. But wouldn’t it have been amazing to have the last piece placed in situ infront of a closed street on a Sunday with thousands stading aroung and thats it, finished. No hoarding nothing….ah well I’m delighted anyhow.

Has anyone seen any links from international media to the spire from around the world?

Living in Holland I can safely say that the spire has received absolutely zero coverage here (but the country is wrapped up with a general election that is happening today).

Also, had a look at the BBC website and again nothing. If they do cover it they’ll probably place it in their Northern Ireland section!

Maybe, this won’t be picked up internationally until the official launch by Bertie & Co?

I hope something does happen, it would be a shame for a project like this to go unnoticed just because it is in Ireland and not London, New York or Paris etc.

From Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=F55B6F17-7423-4487-BAC06294D59EA817

The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01222003/nation_w/22344.asp

The San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/21/international1254EST0574.DTL

Wow! We’ve made it big in the US….

the Ny Times also has it by way of the Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Ireland-New-Monument.html

Wow, delighted to be proved wrong.

Surprised to see it not get more coverage in Europe though!

Stop.watch tv are also making a documentary. Might be a good opportunity for some archerians to voice an opinion.
http://www.filmmakersireland.ie/prod107.html

Stopwatch TV is run by my business partners cousin so maybe a plug would be possible.

Get yezer ‘bacco,……… ‘bacco ‘n’ spire t shirts five fur fifte!

Laydeez and gentlymen,

I give you.

The Stiffy by the Liffey

The Spire in the mire

The Spike instead of the dyke

The Shaft that’s just daft

The North (side) Pole!

The Millennium Dublin Spire. Now almost open for business!

Already they are thinking of re-releasing the old classic with a twist…..

I can see Cleary’s now the crane has gone….

CNN have it in offbeat news
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/21/offbeat.ireland.spire.reut/index.html

‘The money could have been better spent on the homeless and the hospitals’…seems to be the excuse so as to oppose the Spire.
Okay then how about McCreevy put up the taxes of the workers even more and dock the social welfare as well as the pensions so as to provide more than adequate funding for the hospital beds and the homeless.
Let’s say he’ll put up to 100 million or more Euro aside (as he did for the GAA) so as to provide for such causes …and buy everyone who is homeless a house or adequate permanent shelter taking all those unfortunates, drop outs and winos off the streets, (even though some of them are twice the height, weight and strength of meself and would buy and sell ye too)
Maybe too the ‘concerned’ could take in such poor souls and provide food and warmth in these terrible impoverished times….well that’s if they are so concerned.
Here’s to the raising of the taxes for such worthy causes…..
I bet all those shallow bleeding hearts would soon change their tune.

Go on ya good thing!

nothing in Paris yet, unfortunately.

Also, does anyone know its exact height in metres?

check out

http://www.spireofdublin.com

for some great pics

120 metres high.

…thanks.

BTW: The Eiffel Tower is 320m tall and the only other tall building in Paris, The Tour Montparnasse, is 207m.

There are a lot more tall buildings in Paris than those two. La Grande Arche de la Défense is almost as tall as the Spire at 110 metres and its much smaller than most of the skyscrapers in that area.

Ok, sorry!

There are other tall buldings in Paris, but they don’t dominate the skyline like the two I mentionned.

La Défense can been seen from the city, but its not strictly in Paris (the 75 postcode which the French are oddly picky about!)

What I intended to say was that Paris has kept a fairly low-rise skyline with the exception of the Eiffel Tower and the Tour Montparnasse.

I don’t mean to be pedantic.
But I do think the Parisien aversion to high-rise is overstated.
Even within the Peripherique, there are buildings like Hotel Concorde-Lafayette, Hotel Meridien and entire Montparnasse train station complex.
Even Pantheon and Hotel des Invalide – at dome level – are taller than anything in Ireland, as is the Pompidou Centre.
Circling right around the Seine and the Peripherique, there are dozens of high-rise (by Irish standards) buildings.

To put the height in context…

Saturn V rocket – 111m
Coast Redwood tree – 112m
Spire – 120m

All the Irish in New York, y’see. Still waiting for the coverage in England…but Ritchie being a Brit will help.

Enter Ciaran O. There hasn’t been any coverage in the UK at all, not even Channel Four news, which is unusual. Can I ask sherrioverseas, what is a dingleberry?

When you say Paris is fairly low rise, most of the buildings however are either a uniform 5/6 storeys high. Such scale in general 2/3 storey Dublin would be seen as dizzying heights.

Graham – not entirely true as there was a phot on pg2 of the Guardian when the fourth section went up…. But I must admit I couldn’t find anything about the topping off

Spire is mentioned here with link to Archeire site:
http://www.arqa.com.ar/noticias/

Sorry, I meant no coverage on British Television. Ch 4 usually does such ‘novelty stories’ in it’s efforts to be different from the mainstream.