The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) yesterday announced plans for a €475 million scheme to redevelop a pivotal site in the Grand Canal Docks, including an "iconic" 2,000-seat performing arts centre.
The authority's chief executive, Mr Peter Coyne, said he was delighted to announce the appointment of the Devey Group as the preferred bidder to develop the centre as well as a shopping mall and a five-star hotel on the site.
International architects Studio Daniel Libeskind are designing the proposed centre, which will stage Broadway and West End productions, while the hotel has been designed by an award-winning Portuguese architect, Manuel Aires Mateus.
Dublin architects Duffy Mitchell O'Donoghue are responsible for the third element of the scheme, an office building which will flank the performing arts centre, standing opposite the Park Hyatt Hotel on the south side of Grand Canal Square.
Mr Coyne said it was a "very exciting day for us and for Docklands". The imaginatively designed scheme would provide a magnificent centrepiece for the area and he was certain it would become one of Dublin's major landmarks.
The docklands authority's recent competition for development proposals had specified that the performing arts centre should be "a landmark building of outstanding artistic merit".
The Devey Group was among three which had submitted proposals.
Its founder, Mr Terry Devey, said he was absolutely thrilled to win because he had been trying to do something significant in Dublin for some time, a reference to Libeskind's rejected entry for Dún Laoghaire's Carlisle Pier competition.
He said Grand Canal Square would be a microcosm of a city centre, offering a range of small offices, shops and restaurants and an iconic performing arts centre, housed in an internationally significant architectural masterpiece.
Mr Libeskind said his futuristic wedge-shaped building would show how architecture could act as a magnet for the public. It would not be a stand-alone building, but would be integrated into an urban space with as much going on outside as within.
Trees at higher levels would bring nature into the building, which he likened to "a diamond set in public space", illuminated day and night. It would be "a very beautiful building ... part of the complexity of Dublin", the architect said.
The performing arts centre is to be operated by Clear Channel, which runs a number of similar facilities in Britain. A spokesman for the company said it would be used for big shows such as Cats or The Lion King as well as local productions.
The overall scheme would create a new north-south indoor street, or "galleria", containing village-centre-type outlets and a range of individual office suites on the upper levels aimed at indigenous city businesses, according to its promoters.