The Irish Times

How restrained our large buildings have become, with their flush façades. Cladding and curtain walls allow the tagging of material onto building frames and the result has been a proliferation of flat panels of white reconstituted stone (or imitation) combined with glass. So when something comes along with a bit of texture - carefully detailed - it knocks your socks off. Take de Blacam and Meagher's Wooden Building in Temple Bar or - venturing further afield - Wickham van Eyck's beautifully composed brick and render Hoselydown Square at Butler's Wharf in London. That's why O'Mahony Pike's (OMP) Hanover Quay (phase one) building overlooking Grand Canal Dock in Dublin comes as something of a relief. The mixed-use development - mainly apartments on top of restaurants and an office floor - sits on a recessed base, rises up through apartments sheltered by "winter gardens", and recedes again at the top where the penthouses sit.