2 planned towers tell of the new Dublin and Ireland

Point Village

On a February evening, with a cold wind funneling off the River Liffey and around the new construction lots of the Grand Canal Basin, shivering rock-music pilgrims from Spain sought out directions for Hanover Quay. They were searching the old Dublin dockyards for the recording studio of the Irish rock band U2. U2 will be moving on in a few years. The band plans to relocate to the two top floors of a 35-story diamond- shaped residential tower that, if plans go well, will start to rise this year at the confluence of the Liffey, the River Dodder and the Grand Canal, on the southeastern perimeter of the docklands. As part of a land swap involving its current studio site, the band will lend its name to the tower, which is expected to cost €100 million, or $132 million, and to reach 120 meters, or 393 feet. In turn, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which is overseeing a commercial, social and cultural grand design across the docklands, will knock down the band's current nondescript studio to open public access to Hanover Quay. The docklands cover more than 1,300 acres, or 526 hectares.

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