Sir, - On opening the property section of The Irish Times of July 15th, I was shocked by a photomontage of the proposal for Spencer Dock, showing a view from the south quays. In the foreground is the Liffey, to the west is Liberty Hall, the Custom House and the IFSC. The main subject of the image is a collection of 11 or 12 banal cuboid boxes, huddled together in embarrassment wondering how to get a one-way ticket back to downtown Seattle.
To the east of the site lies a slightly different box. The articulation of this building is expressed through its unfortunate collision with a 40-metre high glass drum, which has become lodged in its throat like an awkward fishbone. This structure, the proposed National Conference Centre, is the bribe the citizens of Dublin are asked to accept for the price of sacrificing the most important remaining brownfield site to the very worst of ultra-capitalist development economics.
The article by Martin Pawley accompanying this image was even more horrifying. In it the people of Dublin are requested by Mr Pawley to rejoice at how lucky they are to have their very own Canary Wharf. There are only two similarities between Canary Wharf and the Spencer Dock proposal. Both are located in a docks area. Both turn their back on any reference to European city planning and look instead toward the Mecca of corporate America for their inspiration. The Spencer Dock scheme differs from Canary Wharf in that it coats the entire site with an unrelenting blanket of blandness without the guts to at least emulate the unfortunate Canada Tower.
I regard the developers' attempt to throw an apparent academic weight behind this vacuous proposal as cynical in the extreme. Of great concern is the point at which Mr Pawley argues that we should accept the scheme, and not be bothered with the "minutiae of details", because of Kevin Roche's "standing in the architectural firmament". Judging by this design, Mr Roche seems to appreciate little of this city, and its thriving level of cultural activity, which derives its current energy from interaction created and fostered at street level. In Kevin Roche's scheme there is no street level. There will be no interaction except that of the tunnelled wind creating eddies of refuse.
The fact that the redevelopment of this area is an outstanding opportunity is not disputed. But to forsake the chance to create a dense, urban centre of real architectural quality for the pay-off of a free building of very questionable design quality is no bargain for this city. - Yours, etc.,
Orla Murphy, B.Arch, MRIAI, Aungier Street, Dublin 2.