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What would replace the Dublin spire with?

  • 12-06-2009 3:36am
    #1
    civildefence
    Registered Users Posts: 474 ✭✭


    Like may others I hate the spire, IMO I could have come up with hundreds of far better alternatives, so if you had the choice, what would you put there?


«1

Comments

  • #2
    gunhappy_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,075 ✭✭✭gunhappy_ie


    not an alternative but an improvement.... Current line up of government and top bank officials, stacked in spit roast fashion on the spire ! Oh .... Berthie is definatly included in that too !


  • #3
    civildefence
    Registered Users Posts: 474 ✭✭civildefence


    gunhappy_ie wrote: »
    not an alternative but an improvement.... Current line up of government and top bank officials, stacked in spit roast fashion on the spire ! Oh .... Berthie is definatly included in that too !

    You organise the crane, i'll do the rest!


  • #4
    Mayshine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭Mayshine


    Nothing - I like it


  • #5
    Typewriter
    Registered Users Posts: 577 ✭✭✭Typewriter


    I love the spire. What dont you like about it?

    Its the only good thing that ff did.

    attachment.php?attachmentid=82444&d=1244797869


  • #6
    eoin4789
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭eoin4789


    it is class
    already our american "neighbours" refer to Dublin as having the great spire and then Dublin castle of kilmainham jail.
    Every country in the world has a strange and sticky outy monument and im glad ours is central, simple and effective.


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  • #7
    fricatus
    Registered Users Posts: 5,081 ✭✭✭fricatus


    What has this got to do with infrastructure?

    Dublin forum maybe?


  • #8
    civildefence
    Registered Users Posts: 474 ✭✭civildefence


    green_jesus wrote: »
    I love the spire. What dont you like about it?

    Its the only good thing that ff did.

    Personally I don't think it's appropriate for a street like O'Connell Street to have something that drastic planted in the middle of it among a fine building like the GPO. If you look closely at it you can see each section of it is a different shade of grey making it look tarnished. I also dislike the fact that we were told it was "self-cleaning" when it is in fact NOT and requires cleaning something like once a year at a huge cost to me and you.
    I reckon erecting a pillar (not unlike Nelson's) instead would have been the way to go, obviously with a more deserving presence on top.


  • #9
    BendiBus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,075 ✭✭✭BendiBus


    I like the Spire a lot.

    Suggesting a pillar (to replace another pillar from another era) just smacks of lack of imagination.

    The Spire does not in any way conflict or clash with the buildings that surround it.
    fricatus wrote: »
    What has this got to do with infrastructure?

    It's a navigation aid for visitors to the Capital. Hence infrastructure :)


  • #10
    daymobrew
    Registered Users Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭daymobrew


    civildefence wrote: »
    I reckon erecting a pillar (not unlike Nelson's) instead would have been the way to go, obviously with a more deserving presence on top.
    +1. I'm a big fan of getting 'aerial' views - such a pillar would generate revenue, something the Spire doesn't.

    In San Francisco the Coit Tower provides great views of the city. Here the Smithfield Chimney is available, though expensive if I remember correctly.


  • #11
    BendiBus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,075 ✭✭✭BendiBus


    daymobrew wrote: »
    +1. I'm a big fan of getting 'aerial' views - such a pillar would generate revenue, something the Spire doesn't.

    But as you've pointed out, there's already such an attraction in Smithfield. Every time we want a tall monument should we just throw up another pillar with a viewing platform? In time, all you'd be able to see would be other pillars! And other people looking at you from them!

    The Spire is simple yet imaginative.


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  • #12
    Blackjack
    Registered Users Posts: 3,592 ✭✭✭Blackjack


    There's nothing wrong with the Spire - leave it as it is.


  • #13
    ynotdu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,817 ✭✭✭ynotdu


    The Spire only looks good from a distance,looks great from T C D area,however it is a gigantic phallic symbol,what about the VAGINA MONOLOUGES,???? Say Nell McCaffertys nude photo spotlighted were Nelson used to be :confused:


  • #14
    siobhan.murphy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,340 ✭✭✭siobhan.murphy


    F.F party on top?


  • #15
    Blackjack
    Registered Users Posts: 3,592 ✭✭✭Blackjack


    ynotdu wrote: »
    Say Nell McCaffertys nude photo spotlighted were Nelson used to be :confused:

    The Country needs no reminding that either of those originate here. Let's try and put the bad things behind us.....


  • #16
    ynotdu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,817 ✭✭✭ynotdu


    Blackjack wrote: »
    The Country needs no reminding that either of those originate here. Let's try and put the bad things behind us.....

    Lol Blackjack


  • #17
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,446 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    I wasn't crazy about the spire initially but I fell in love with it one day while I was working towards it on Henry St and the sun was setting behind me casting an orange glow on the spire and the moon was clearly visible just to the left of it.

    It was absolutely incredible then, like something out of a sci fi movie. Almost everyone was stopped on Henry St. looking up at it and taking pictures in amazement. I wish I had a camera with me.


  • #18
    Hagar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,793 ✭✭✭✭Hagar


    What genius came up with that nondescript piece of scrap metal? It should be replaced with an iconic structure. Something unique. Something that if anybody saw on a postcard would say "Look it's Dublin".


    We need something unique, possibly Celtic, like the Tree of Life sculpture at the BOI.

    DSCF4029.JPG

    At least some thought went into that. But it needs to be on a much grander scale. Something that tourists won't be able to pass without taking a photo.

    Paris has the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, New York the Statue of Liberty, Piccadilly Circus has Eros, Pisa has it's Tower. Surely we can come up with something better than an upturned nail?


  • #19
    Stark
    Registered Users Posts: 20,886 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    Stick a potato on it like the one in Revolution Square in Romania: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1843664


  • #20
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,418 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Hagar wrote: »
    Paris has the Eiffel Tower ...
    Which, at the time, was hated too ...
    Wikipedia wrote:
    The tower was met with much criticism from the public when it was built, with many calling it an eyesore. Newspapers of the day were filled with angry letters from the arts community of Paris. One is quoted extensively in William Watson's US Government Printing Office publication of 1892 Paris Universal Exposition: Civil Engineering, Public Works, and Architecture. “And during twenty years we shall see, stretching over the entire city, still thrilling with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see stretching out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates.”[10] Signers of this letter included Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Charles Gounod, Charles Garnier, Jean-Léon Gérôme, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Alexandre Dumas.
    Novelist Guy de Maupassant — who claimed to hate the tower — supposedly ate lunch in the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where one could not see the structure. Today, the Tower is widely considered to be a striking piece of structural art.


    Personally, I like it (the Spire, that is).


  • #21
    Hagar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,793 ✭✭✭✭Hagar


    Slightly OT Gustav Eiffel also designed the steel structural framework for the Statue of Liberty.


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  • #22
    Acacia
    Registered Users Posts: 2,816 ✭✭✭Acacia


    BendiBus wrote: »

    The Spire does not in any way conflict or clash with the buildings that surround it.

    Sorry, but it really does, especially with old buildings like the GPO. I think it's quite ugly and much too modern-looking for an old city like Dublin.

    I'd like something that was more 'Irish'- you could plonk the Spire in any city in the world and it wouldn't really add anything to it and or enhance the character of the city because it's so bland. It doesn't necessarily haven't to be a tall pillar / building, a nice simple statue could work just as well if not better.


  • #23
    BendiBus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,075 ✭✭✭BendiBus


    Acacia wrote: »
    Sorry, but it really does, especially with old buildings like the GPO. I think it's quite ugly and much too modern-looking for an old city like Dublin.

    We'll have to agree to disagree.

    Dublin is over 1000 years old. By your logic we should remove the GPO while we're taking down the spire as most of that building is less than a hundred years old. As is most of that part of the city.

    Old and new can live happily together just as they do in most "modern, old" cities.


  • #24
    Mayshine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭Mayshine


    Actually - I think I would like to replace it with a taller version of itself. Yeah I would like that


  • #25
    carlmango11
    Registered Users Posts: 1,019 ✭✭✭carlmango11


    What genius came up with that nondescript piece of scrap metal? It should be replaced with an iconic structure. Something unique. Something that if anybody saw on a postcard would say "Look it's Dublin".

    I think it's extremely unique. As you said yourself, it's a scrap of metal :D

    Ireland never leads, always follows. People say build a pillar, it's been done, it looks nice, let's copy it. Personally I don't like that attitude. If someone saw a postcard with the Spire on it there would be no other city but Dublin it could be.

    If we had a pillar there it could be several cities, most likely one would assume London or something.

    I like it :pac::pac::pac:


  • #26
    AlanSparrowhawk
    Closed Accounts Posts: 485 ✭✭AlanSparrowhawk


    I think a spiral or double helix would look way better.


  • #27
    Acacia
    Registered Users Posts: 2,816 ✭✭✭Acacia


    BendiBus wrote: »
    We'll have to agree to disagree.

    Dublin is over 1000 years old. By your logic we should remove the GPO while we're taking down the spire as most of that building is less than a hundred years old. As is most of that part of the city.

    Old and new can live happily together just as they do in most "modern, old" cities.

    Yeah, I don't think we're going to agree. The GPO may not be as old as some of the other buildings but it doesn't clash so violently with, say, Christchurch Cathedral, as the it does with Spire.

    My point is that the Spire looks too modern - i.e. futuristic and space-agey , which imo is totally incompatible with Dublin. The Spire is is just boring-looking to me, and as I say, it wouldn't look out of place in any modern city in the world because it has no character.

    I really hope it's taken down and replaced with something more 'Irish'.


  • #28
    Mayshine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭Mayshine


    AlanSparrowhawk wrote: »
    I think a spiral or double helix would look way better.

    Singapore is doing a double helix bridge. Looks good too

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Helix_Bridge


  • #29
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,418 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    With regard to it being too modern looking, in my experience very modern buildings do not clash with nearby classic buildings such as the GPO, in fact the fact that they are so different in appearance somehow makes them clash less if that makes snese.

    What usually does not work are feeble attempts to make new buildings 'blend in with', or be 'sympathetic to' their surroundings, where you end up with some horrible compromise that isn't one thing or another and just ends up as some anonymous blob.


  • #30
    Purple Gorilla
    Closed Accounts Posts: 865 ✭✭✭Purple Gorilla


    Hagar wrote: »
    What genius came up with that nondescript piece of scrap metal? It should be replaced with an iconic structure. Something unique. Something that if anybody saw on a postcard would say "Look it's Dublin".


    We need something unique, possibly Celtic, like the Tree of Life sculpture at the BOI.

    DSCF4029.JPG

    At least some thought went into that. But it needs to be on a much grander scale. Something that tourists won't be able to pass without taking a photo.

    Paris has the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, New York the Statue of Liberty, Piccadilly Circus has Eros, Pisa has it's Tower. Surely we can come up with something better than an upturned nail?
    But I do think that that is something that Dublin would be known for. My American Uncle says the same thing everytime he's over, Dublin is one of the few places you can see old, historic buildings right along new modern buildings and it actually looks good. We've already gone far enough to protect Dublin's "historicness" by that ban on skyscrapers.

    The Spire looks fine in O'Connell Street and it actually looks good alongside the GPO. It shows how far we've come, from a poor, newly-independent state, to one where we have enough money to blow it on a giant, metal toothpick :pac: And I think that it really is something unique to Dublin :)

    I demand that you like it. Plus it looks cool at night.

    2056002872_1361e2325b.jpg


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  • #31
    bazzer06
    Registered Users Posts: 100 ✭✭bazzer06


    I have to say I like the Spire too, and I think any attempts at replacing it with something more Irish would end up in the erection of awful tack... And I think its a bit silly too that something that was built and exists now in the capital of Ireland is not considered Irish because it doesn't evoke some deep seated part of our culture - the Eiffel Tower wasn't exactly built with reference to some kind of French cultural iconography, and yet today symbolises France; in fact I'd say most structures of this iconic type are new designs that come to symbolise a country/place, not the other way around.

    As for it clashing, to be honest I think architecturally a lot of Dublin simply cannot "compete" with other European cities due to the century of neglect that has just come to a close - the city is not that architecturally rich, and so I think if we can build complimentary modern structures, it can give Dublin a style of its own which should age quite well. In general, structures such as the pyramid in the Louvre in Paris, and the new dome on the Reichstag in Berlin are modern complimentary additions that have met with widespread approval.

    Also, If the OP has hundreds of ideas for alternatives, would s/he care to mention even one?


This discussion has been closed.
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