Click to enlarge

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Recent projects worldwide - research by Stephen Holl and OMA or the twin towers competition spring to mind - are exploring the definition and significance of a Landmark tower.

These, viewed within the local context of docks, future 100m tall buildings and the very elegantly tapered 120m Spire, not to mention Liberty Tower, beg the question of an appropriate and memorable shape.

The site currently offers a unique public space, at the tip of the Sir Rogerson's Quay forming a peninsula with the mouth of the River Dodder and the gates of Grand Canal Basin.

The project offers to retain and enhance this space by creating a GARDEN in the centre. This GARDEN will be planted and its floor will undulate. The GLASS SHARDS - windbreaks - to the West will allow a certain degree of comfort.

The GARDEN separates incompatible functions of the project - the UNDERGROUND nightclub and the apartments, the loading bay/U2 parking and the rest of the scheme.

This simple organisation has many consequences. It allows stretching the top floor or U2 ZONE across the entire site by providing discreet access, emergency exit and structural support.

This in turn forms an URBAN WINDOW with the residential tower, framing a VOID with ambiguous limits. A new form is created, strangely reminiscent of large cranes.

The U2 ZONE has many advantages. It is made of a large Virendeel truss, clad with various types of glass, acting as a propped cantilever. It covers the entire footprint of the site and allows on a single floor to loosely arrange the recording studio - a box within the structure - the administration, large terraces - providing natural ventilation - and various relaxation areas within a unique and memorable experience.

The RESIDENTIAL tower, with a strong structural outer skeleton and few inner bracing walls, counteracts the lateral torsion created by the Virendeel truss, thus minimising the propping staircase and panoramic lift shaft. The project has also the ambition to become a landmark in residential living with the apartments sharing a series of communal atria. These atria group 15 apartments on 3 floors. They are designed as semi-outdoor spaces for the purpose of ventilation but also for a socially active life. Apartments are mainly 2 bed-rooms with dual exposition and wintergarden recessed within the skin of the tower. Several variations in design are possible, from duplex to larger units. A proposed clear height of 2.7m is also proposed for future change of use.

The lower floors are occupied by offices, to an amount to be decided by the developer. They share the same broad principles as the residential floors.

The ground floor is dedicated to retail units, bar, café and restaurant opening largely on the quayside and the GARDEN