Architects: Chora
2003
Anchored ship
The tower is like a ship of the land, floating above the earth, but anchored by lines to its current resting spot. It is a landmark for the future city and for maritime history. Taking its geometry from the strong architectural forms and public spaces prevalent in the old city, its idiosyncratic features, the large 'eyes', come from shipping details like the anchor cable holes in ships. The tower is a maritime symbol as well as a gateway for the city. The building has a perforated structural skin. The perforations are made of three types of windows but the skin also contains infrastructures for the office spaces. Three large 'eyes' inserted in the tower view the city, the harbour and the sea. The top eye provides a roof terrace for U2, the middle eye is provides a view to the sea for the residential parts, the lower eye forms the outside terrace for the large office in the lower part of the tower. The project as a whole creates a new iconography for buildings in which individual composition, environmental concerns and smart technology embodied in the skin come together.
Exoskeleton skin
The skin is a structural skin that forms a stable cage. This cage is suspended from the two cores that provide the vertical infrastructure, using the penultimate floor as a bridge. The structural skin carries both floors and the large 'eyes'. The skin is made from four types of panels with six different sizes of perforations, forming the windows. The largest openings are reserved for the office spaces, the apartments have where needed panels with smaller windows, since the main view is provided by the large eye, and the sides of the building has panels with the lowest density of openings. This provides a cost and energy effective way of varying the skin properties. The floors can be divided into smaller office units, or contain open plan and column free spaces. The intersection of the three 'eyes' with the floors create spaces with a rich variety of spatial quality combined with spectacular views. The three 'eyes' are structurally attached to the skin as well. The perforation of the skin gives it a varied and rippling effect, echoing the surface of the water. The treatment of the concrete surface of the panels repeats this rippling effect on a smaller scale. The tower, geometrically precise, has also a rugged and industrial appearance, appropriate for its context.
Cross connections
Two perforated walls form the base for the tower, acting as mooring lines for the tower, connecting it to the bodies of water. The lines continue the geometry of the River Dodder and the Westmoreland, Buckingham and Camden Locks, and connect this geometry with the River Liffey, since the planned bridge will in part obscure this connection. The perforated walls organise the public spaces in the base, and create new public spaces in the space between the building and the surrounding areas. The walls create the potential to jump geometrically across the River Liffey and to link part of that river as public space to the tower. Also extending one perforated wall along the Britain Quay can help define the body of water enclosed by the bridge, the locks and the river Dodder. The walls are perforated like the tower, but also provide much needed wind barriers. On ground level the cross of the walls provides space for a lobby with the potential for additional retail programmes and a café bar on the side of the River Dodder. The walls form the backbone for the staircases to the second level, the car ramp leading to the parking garage and the pedestrian ramp leading down to the private U2 lobby which can be reached directly from the car park as well. The walls create enclosures outside the building for terraces, and end in the River Liffey where a landing for a river bus from and to the centre can be placed. A restaurant and a discotheque are positioned on the second floor of the base. The roof of the base is a folded surface accentuating the floating character of the tower.
Urban Prototype
The project combines a variety of programmes: offices, apartments, the U2 studio, cafes, a restaurant and a discotheque. These programmes guarantee a lively use of the buildings and its surroundings throughout day and night. The building will also provide an attraction for visitors coming by foot, car, river bus or other means of transport from the city centre. The project is a mixed use building that will become a stepping stone for the further development of the area, and a model for other forms of mixed use. The Landmark Tower is an urban prototype. An important aspect of the project as prototype is the possible inclusion of a large wind turbine in the central 'eye'. This inclusion depends on the technology available to create a silent turbine, but the shape of the eye and the prevailing wind are ideal for a large turbine.