-Donnacha-
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I don’t think it’s a ‘governmental angle’ to remind ouserlves how bad things were not too long ago. It’s important to get a bit of perspective on this – the city has been transformed in 10 years. Totally. Unrecognisably.
Anyone remember the quays looking like Dresden after the blitz for more than a decade?
Every public building permanently covered in black soot? No cool restauarnts/ bars/ clubs/ markets. Now that was a kip.
Most of the new stuff is good, some of it is very good.
It’s frustrating that major projects like O’Connell Street still take longer than they should to get finished, but look at how much has been done since the start of the 90s and lets wait and see before beating ourselves up.
We may be still behind other Eurpoean countries in learning how to make our capital city work, but we’ve had a lot further to come since we got a bit of cash in our pockets. Sorry if this is before your time!I can’t understand why the arcaheologists are only called in when work on these projects is just about to start.
I mean, you can’t dig a hole anywhere in Dublin without unearthing something of interest. When these infrastructural projects are first conceived, why can’t preliminary digs be carried out all along proposed routes, before the planners go ahead.
Surely the investment would help head off potential showdowns with the enviro/ historical groups.Ah I’m sure the Calatravas will be grand when they’re finished. My point was, the Boyne bridge is a stunning piece of engineering, a true landmark, but it hasn’t got anything like the same attention. The Irish Times didn’t even run a picture of it when it opened yesterday!
Has anyone seen it up close? It must be the biggest bridge in Ireland.If Bord Failte was to take out an ad, even if it was just a picture of Dublin, broadcasting to every country in Eurpoe simultaneously for a minute in a prime Saturday slot, it would have been charged tonnes and I’m sure it would have chosen the image carefully…
Instead of the grim vista RTE gave us.
Oops! Also admitted watching Eurovision!Yeah I’d have to agree with Whatsup on this one. Bares no relation to the city at all. Its seems Calatrava is sticking to his design principles on this on has not even bothered to think of the visual impliactions of this project. Quite surprised actually that not more people are voiceing their opinion on this. It so foreign looking its scary the planners aloud this to come to fruitation. Awful.
My point was, O’Connell Street serves the same purpose as other main streets around Ireland on weekend nights – to absorb most of the people coming out of the pubs, give them burgers, taxis, whatever, before they go home.
I think this is a fairer comparison than to a shopping street like Grafton Street where, in fairness, an innocent cyclist was beaten into a coma the other week.
I’ve never worked security, but as a former resident of several large towns/small cities recently, I don’t feel in any more in danger on O’Connell Street. In fact, I feel considerably more intimidated in Galway’s Eyre Square – a horrible, scary kip for a couple of hours every Saturday night.Leaving aside all the differences in scale, O’Connell Street is still no more intimidating of a Saturday night than the main streets of many provincial towns.
The pattern looks like a mistake from a distance, and waiting for the previously wrapped bit to match the dirt on the rest is not good enough!
So much for ‘self cleaning’!
And I thought most of the base finish was going to be mirrored, not just the tiny area that is patterned. If I bought this in a shop, I’d be looking for my money back.
We’ve been conned!It has been done. The Stade de France is built like this to reduce the visual height. The new Wembly pitch will be 4 metres lower than the previous. Imagine this adds somwhat to the costs though
Thanks LOB and shadow. RIAI only have info on their members but I’m going to check that other website now.
I’ll preface my comments by saying that I have not actually seen the unveiled spike in person, only though pics in this forum. i do think that the tonal difference between the base section and the rest looks odd but I’ll reserve final judgement until actually seen.
I am surprised at some of the comments above which in some cases border on the hysterical. Should the design-decoration or whatever you want to call it, not be considered in terms of the fully completed project? As I understand it the paving section at the base is yet to be completed.
As a general comment, why should the pattern be geometric? Why can it not be “organic” to contrast with the strong vertical emphasis the spike clearly has. Spirals and such like smack of dodgy celtic jewellery.
I saw the IDOM presentation board down in Waterford when the winning entries were announced for the North Docks. Does anyone know if they have a website??
If this is the result of barely five months of exposure, the thing will be black within a few years! Self-cleaning my arse. Ritchie should be forced to pay for an annual spike-wash in perpetuity…
DCC doesn’t seem to spend much time thinking about where these shelters go either. There’s one really busy stop at Drumcondra Station with big, opaque phone boxes stuck right in front, in the direction the traffic is coming. Loading bays make it even worse.
So you get gangs of people leaving the shelter and standing out in the road trying to see around the phone boxes!The Helix looks great, but I have to register my disgust at its inaccessibility for disabled people. I went with some friends to a show in The Theatre – one of our group has difficulties with steps.
We were told there were none. There were, loads, between us and our seats near the front. No ramps, no other options. Climb down the steps or sit in one of the TWO shit seats at the very back, like a leper.
Oh, and there is one disabled parking space within easy reach of the front of Helix. And it was blocked on the night.
It’s 2003 and this is a brand new, flagship building that I’m sure will get all sorts of awards. Undeservedly, if it can’t do something as simple as let people with less than 100 percent mobility enjoy a show with their friends with a bit of dignity.
