Bright idea for a power plant - Irish Architectural News

Poolbeg Chimneys

They're hard to miss. Two red-and-white striped chimneys on the edge of Dublin Bay. At 207 metres they're by far the city's tallest structures. Seen from the air on the flight path into Dublin airport, they're a landmark of the city: a sign you're home in Ireland. At times, they appear and disappear in the sea mist, like the masts of some immense ghost ship. The Poolbeg chimneys, built in the 1960s, are still in use. Part of an adjoining ESB power plant, which burns oil and gas, some people think they're ugly, but many more are beguiled by these slender structures, visible from so many places in the city. Now, if Irish sculptor Patrick O'Reilly sees his idea realised, the Poolbeg chimneys will become as beautiful as Paris's Eiffel Tower, which lights up like a firework, courtesy of 20,000 special strobe bulbs and the design genius of the Pierre Bideau company. Pierre Bideau was the man who decorated the Eiffel Tower with twinkling, starry lights for the millennium. Originally intended to be installed for one year, the lights became so popular with both Parisians and visitors that in 2003 the tower received another lighting redesign, this time permanent. At night, every hour on the hour, for 10 minutes, the tower becomes a shimmering, illuminated pillar.

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