The Dublin Docklands Development Authority is preparing to amend its statutory planning scheme for the north docks area to incorporate a high-rise cluster that would stand on stilts in the River Liffey.
Under the amended scheme, this Manhattan-style cluster would straddle North Wall Quay between the East Link Bridge and the proposed suspension bridge near Spencer Dock designed by Spanish architect-engineer Santiago Calatrava.
A block model of the radical plan formed part of the docklands presentation in Ireland's much-praised exhibition at the Lisbon Architectural Triennale, which closes later this month. It has yet to be officially unveiled by the docklands authority.
What is shown in the model is a series of notional towers, some with extraordinary shapes and colours, that would be built on stilts in the Liffey - if the amended planning scheme is approved by Minister for the Environment John Gormley.
According to John McLaughlin, the authority's director of architecture, the proposed cluster would provide a dramatic counterpoint to the generally low-rise nature of the new buildings that have sprung up along the riverfront in the past decade.
He also pointed to the public amenity benefits of the scheme, which would include an elongated U-shaped canal to the north, east and west of the high-rise cluster, turning it into an island site with Mayor Street as its northern boundary.
The cluster is envisaged as a mixed-use development, including offices, apartments, retail and leisure uses. It would be served by the planned extension of the Tallaght Luas line along Mayor Street from Connolly Station to the Point Village.
More than 12 years ago, a proposal by Point Village developer Harry Crosbie to build an apartment block on the North Wall campshire - the strip of land between the road and river - was rejected by the city planners and An Bord Pleanála.
One of the main reasons given for its rejection was that it would have flown in the face of the traditional layout of the Liffey quays, consisting of buildings set back from the quay front with a carriageway and footpaths between them and the river.
Pat McDonnell, then chief planning officer of Dublin Corporation (as it was), took the view that Mr Crosbie's proposed development would set aside the legacy of the great Duke of Ormonde, the viceroy who began laying out the quays in the 1670s.
It was Ormonde's vision, inspired by the years he had spent in exile in Paris with Charles II, to have buildings facing the river, instead of turning their backs on it; that is the reason why such a long stretch of the northside quays is named after him.
The proposal by the docklands development authority could be seen as another challenge to Ormonde's legacy because it would effectively eliminate a substantial tract of North Wall Quay,
It would also extend the building line out into the river by some 15 metres.
