OPINION:The proposed Dart Underground station in Dublin's Stephen's Green could prove to be a blessing in disguise – and a very exciting prospect, writes DR DIARMUID Ó GRÁDA
GOD NEVER closes one window but he opens another one. It may be that the Railway Procurement Agency is now about to repeat this trick. A very exciting prospect has been opened up by the proposed placing of the Dart Underground and Metro North shared station below ground at St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, requiring major changes to the landscaping.
Anybody coming from the direction of Grafton Street can hardly fail to notice the strange appearance of the Green. The prospect is one of continuous high greenery, concealing the marvellous public space that has afforded Dubliners such a great amenity for three centuries.
There is anecdotal evidence that the Green has become so sequestered that it is putting off some visitors from going into it at all. This is entirely unacceptable and we now have a remedy for it. We can restore it to its original role and make it once again a truly European space.
It is important to remember that the Green was conceived at the end of the 17th century as one of the newfangled European squares, with the green space forming the centrepiece. It was envisaged as an open space complementing the fine houses – a place they could all overlook and share.
This was an early use of what the planners now call passive surveillance. It afforded a unity to the entire housing scheme, while also yielding great scope for passive amenity and social intercourse. At the same time, those within the Green could look up and admire the modern architecture of the houses.
And the Green afforded another dividend that has long been neglected. Those within the new houses could look across beyond the open space itself, taking in the novelty of their counterparts on the opposite side – near, but not too near. This was a novelty, adding the extra dimension of formally arranged layers and dimensions.
What we have lost can be regained. There is no justification for the modesty screen that some misguided gardeners planted all around the perimeter. On each side we see dull laurel trees, no good to man or beast. A tree in the wrong place is merely a weed. The computer generated image of the intended Dart works published in The Irish Timeson Wednesday reveals how we could once more get to see the real Green. Exposing the expanse of the square to visitors approaching it would surely lift their hearts. This must be done so that we all will see the full extent of the place. There are so few sizeable squares in Dublin that at least one of them needs to be kept sufficiently open to allow us to appreciate its extent.
Dr Diarmuid Ó Gráda is a lecturer in planning at University College, Dublin