Design sought to fill site of Pillar

Dublin Corporation is holding an international design competition to find a suitable monument to replace Nelson's Pillar. It is intended it become a new "symbol" for the capital in the 21st century.

Up to £4 million is to be spent on the project, which the corporation sees as an essential element of its ambitious plans for the "renaissance" of O'Connell Street.

The corporation, which is running the competition in association with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, is confident the new monument will be funded by Government as a millennium project.

The city architect, Mr Jim Barrett, says the aim is to "fill the vacuum" left by the bombing and demolition of Nelson's Pillar 32 years ago with a monument which would become for Dublin "what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris."

The competition is open to architects, engineers, sculptors and artists from Ireland or overseas. The brief they are being given has been made as "non-prescriptive as possible" to encourage innovative responses, he said.

Mr Tony Duggan, senior architect with Dublin Corporation, said they were looking for "an elegant structure of 21st century contemporary design that is at the same time in scale with the architectural quality of O'Connell Street."

No guarantee is being given that the winning entry, to be selected from a minimum of five finalists, will be built. But in the "unlikely event" it is not proceeded with, the winner would receive a £10,000 prize.

Mr Barrett said the winning design would have the same status and sense of presence as the Nelson monument and would stand on the same site, at the junction of O'Connell Street with Henry Street and North Earl Street.

"The Pillar had two very important roles in that it was a design set-piece and it was a pivotal and important feature," he said. Since its demise, there was "a sense of something missing" from O'Connell Street.

The Lord Mayor, Mr John Stafford, said the competition was part of a plan to make O'Connell Street "the Champs Elysees" of Dublin. "One way or another we are going ahead with it, even if we have to do it ourselves."

"The money could always be used somewhere else, but this monument will be here for hundreds of years and will stand as a symbol of Dublin. It will bring the two ends of the street together."

The city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, said the common perception of the capital's main street "has been all about handbag snatches and drug problems" but he said that image has changed in the last 12 months.

The closing date for submissions is September 28th, after which a short-list of entrants will be selected. They will each receive £6,000 to produce a model of their proposals.

Information and registration forms are available from the RIAI, 8 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. The entry fee is £75 (or £5 for the unwaged).