A soaring, stainless steel spike, twice the height of Liberty Hall, will be erected on the former site of Nelson Pillar in O'Connell Street as a symbol of Dublin for the third millennium.
The £3 million structure, tapering to a light at its pinnacle, was designed by Mr Ian Ritchie, a London architect, and selected from the three short-listed finalists in an international competition that attracted 205 entries.
A model of the winning scheme, which includes the central section of O'Connell Street, was unveiled in the Mansion House yesterday by the Lord Mayor, Senator Joe Doyle, who served on the jury for the competition.
He said it was a particularly exciting design that would recapture the heart of the city. He also anticipated that the people of Dublin and Ireland would recognise its beauty and that in time it would become a familiar and well-loved landmark.
Ms Joan O'Connor, former president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, who chaired the panel of adjudicators, described it as "a wonderful wand for O'Connell Street . . . a beautiful illuminated spire".
She explained that the stainless steel "needle" would have a tolerance of 2.5 metres at its apex, which consists of pure optical glass above a perforated stainless steel section some 15 metres high, allowing the light to shine through as a beacon for the city.
Ms O'Connor said the design fulfilled the requirements of the competition brief by providing an elegant structure of 21st-century design. It was also "a brave and uncompromising beacon which reaffirms the status of O'Connell Street".
The winning architect said he was proud and humbled at being chosen to build this "high and elegant structure to symbolise growth, search, release, thrust - and Ireland's future". It would be a monument for the new millennium by day and by night.
Describing it as a "pure symbol of optimism for the future", Mr Ritchie said that if the project went well, it could be erected on the site of the old monument by Christmas 1999, in time for the millennium celebrations. It might even be lifted up in one piece, he added.
The general reaction after the model was presented yesterday was overwhelmingly positive. Mr Tom Coffey, of the City Centre Business Association, said it was perfect, while the Chamber of Commerce said it would do wonders for O'Connell Street.
Mr Tom Rea, managing director of Clery's and a member of the jury, likened it to the needle of a compass to mark the centre of Dublin. And Mr Michael O'Doherty, principal architect at the Office of Public Works, said he had never seen anything so exciting.
Mr Jim Barrett, the city architect, who also served on the jury, said there was bound to be some nostalgia for the pillar among the older generation, "but anyone under 30 will be hugely in favour of it because it's a young people's statement about the future".
Mr Dick Gleeson, deputy chief planning officer of Dublin Corporation, said it was "absolutely the right thing for the street. It's understated, yet magnificently radical and powerful at the same time. Really, it's a work of art which will reinvent the public domain."
The former lord mayor, Mr John Stafford TD, who initiated plans for O'Connell Street's rejuvenation, was also positive. "It's extremely high, but I like the idea of it being tall. It could have been tall and gruesome, but it's not. It's tall and slim."
But a councillor, Mr Eamonn O'Brien (Lab), said: "It's a huge hypodermic needle, an eternal eyesore and symbol of a drug city. There's no way we're going for that."
However, Mr Tony Gregory TD (Ind) was worried that it might displace a long-established flower-seller.
A public exhibition of all competition entries opens at the RIAI's Architecture Centre, 8 Merrion Square, in the week of December 7th. It will continue until the end of January.
