Two hundred and twenty years ago, work started on the construction of Dublin's Custom House, now universally regarded as one of the capital's architectural jewels. But this was not the common view of the building at the time. In late July 1781, for example, the Dublin Evening Post reported on the Custom House that "from the opinion which the public in general seem to entertain of the many injurious consequences likely to be experienced by the city from its situation" its construction would probably not take place at least before the end of the century.
Of course, the Dublin Evening Post - and the opinions it claimed to represent - were proven incorrect, not least because of the determination of the parties behind the Custom House to see their project through, regardless of what "the public in general" may or may not have thought. The scheme's opponents presented a number of (to their minds) extremely powerful arguments: that the Custom House was unnecessary (such a structure already existing elsewhere in the city); that it was too big; that established commercial interests would be affected; that the architect given the commission, James Gandon, was English.
Carlisle Pier
Expect all the above, and many others besides, to be levelled at the proposal to overhaul the currently redundant Carlisle Pier in Dun Laoghaire. A company called the Devey Group has come up with a daring plan to develop this site as a hotel, apartment complex and museum according to the designs of Polish-born Daniel Libeskind. Now based in Berlin, where he designed that city's Jewish Museum which opened in January 1999, Libeskind is one of the most imaginative architects in the world. Visitors to London this summer may have seen the temporary aluminium building he designed for a spot in Hyde Park next to the Serpentine Gallery; not too far away, he is also creating an extension to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Libeskind's global reputation is already secure, but there can be no doubt that as discussion about the Dun Laoghaire pier gets under way he will be required to justify himself and his work over and over again, just as Gandon was obliged to do two centuries ago. Unquestionably, there will be violent objections to the appearance of the buildings he proposes for the borough site: they will be denounced as being too tall, too distinctive, and out of character with the rest of the area. Oddly enough, these are not arguments which have been presented during the past 30 years' creeping ruination of Dun Laoghaire. There were, for example, few cries of protest at the demolition of houses in formerly intact terraces, no outrage at such monstrosities as the 1970s shopping centre which turns its back to the sea or the equally unprepossessing apartment blocks recently erected on an adjoining plot.
Dun Laoghaire might once have been a fine town, but much of its best qualities have been steadily eroded to the point that it now needs - and deserves - a bold redemption. Libeskind's design for Carlisle Pier offers just that: a creative leap of the kind which, when applied elsewhere, has been shown to transform cities.
Architectural maverick
The most obvious example of this phenomenon is found in Bilbao, now universally known as the home of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum. Like Libeskind, Gehry is an architectural maverick, not working within the modernist canon but possessed of an intuitive understanding of how people emotionally respond to design. This is why Bilbao, never before a major tourist destination, now attracts enormous numbers of visitors from around the world. The city's Guggenheim Museum is startlingly innovative in its appearance and makes no effort to blend in with the surrounding streets; had Gehry's work been more demure and overtly respectful of the immediate environment, it would never have achieved such an impact.
"The Bilbao effect", as it has become known, is something that many urban centres throughout Europe and the United States now wish to emulate. In New York, for example, Gehry is designing an enormous Guggenheim Museum for Manhattan's old port and this is widely predicted to revitalise the area's fortunes. Similarly, the winner of this year's Mies van der Rohe European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Rafael Moneo's Kursaal Centre in San Sebastian, northern Spain - is a development which makes no concessions to its location but nonetheless is a triumphant success.
Popular taste
What in recent years has become one of the favourite tourist destinations in London? The south-bank Tate Modern Gallery designed by the Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron, a building which in the past month was voted one of the most popular in Britain even though it makes no effort to appeal to popular taste. If it should come to fruition, the same is likely to be true of Daniel Libeskind's proposal for the old Dun Laoghaire pier.
During the past century, there have been scarcely any large-scale architectural schemes in this State. Rather than be so bold as to commission a new structure, the Government chose to renovate an Edwardian block for its headquarters. The buildings consistently offered at home and abroad as representing Ireland are all hundreds of years old. Libeskind's design, as the architect himself observes, would act as "a unique icon of regeneration and imagination for the spirit of Ireland".
Yes, Libeskind's design is dramatic and almost frighteningly different from anything else in Dun Laoghaire; but so, after all, was the original development of the borough in the early 19th century. And as the history of Dublin's Custom House also demonstrates, great schemes demand boldness. What Libeskind proposes for Dun Laoghaire promises to be the 21st century's equivalent of Gandon's masterpiece.