Want to live in the U2 Tower in Dublin docklands?

An Irish consortium is ear-marked to design and build the €200m U2 Tower in Dublin docklands ...and you could find yourself snapping one up for below market value!

Work should begin in 2008 and is to be completed by 2011. The Dublin Docklands Authority (DDA) Chief Executive Paul Maloney has said that the building will be 'breathtaking and inspirational and will offer spectacular views over Dublin Bay'.

It will include a hotel, residential and retail areas, as well as a recording studio for the U2 themselves. The DDDA also said that the building would feature a public viewing area at 100m and a public amenity area.

The residential element of the building will include 20% social and affordable housing and you might be surprised how easy it is to qualify! Get on the list for Social and Affordable Housing now - you can't lose by making an application and your chances are increased the longer you're on the waiting list.

Have a look at the DDA site or try the Dublin City Council site.

Great buildings - SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

Have a look at The GUARDIAN's link here - interesting snap-shot of iconic buildings like the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, London's 'GUERKIN' and the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE.

The one on the Opera House gives an insight into what became one of the world's most publicised project management disasters. JORN UTZON the building's architect 'resigned' in 1966 before work on the shell roofs was completed - he emigrated and never saw the building in it's finished state.

He says himself "I had the best job anyone could get. I had the possibility with a number of people to concentrate fantastically upon an extraordinarily great structure for a purpose which was not for profit but for the stimulus of the mind.

"It was my function as an architect to support the actors in the house and help them present their drama in a better way; and you could not dream of a better entrance to this new world. When it became clear that our function was to stimulate the audience before the drama, to take them away from their daily lives, the architecture came by itself."

On his departure the interior designs were completed by local architects who did it no justice. He was cut off and knew practically nothing of the new plans for the interior, which depart radically from his own conception. As he describes it, it had a coherent philosophy which began with the life of the city and harbour and drew it toward the stage, and there was not to be a light or a tile which did not have its place in that philosophy.

The only authentic Utzon interior - the Reception Hall - was completed in 2004 and named in his honour.

He now lives in Mallorca and, although in 1999 he was appointed 'design consultant' to provide guidelines that will oversee its future conservation, he has made it very clear he has no intention of returning.

In 2007 the Sydney Opera House was declared a world heritage site!

Audio Terrorists at Seomra Spraoi Sat 13 Oct

It’s been confirmed and you'd be a lunatic to miss it. Long time collaborators AUDIO TERRORISTS and FORCE 10 are getting together on the 13th October 2007 (that's this Sat night) in SEOMRA SPRAOI.

Two rooms - with a suggested donation of EU8 !!

In Room 2 Audio Terrorists have:
- Ebauche vs Thalamus (Alphabet Set) SplatStep laptop DJ shenanigans
- Warren Daly (Invisible Agent) Live Electro Set!
- 2BiT (Invisible Agent) Dubset DJ set
- T-Woc (Alphabet Set) DJ set

and in Room 1:
- Captain Moonlight (his track 'Bertie Ahearn is a dirty c**t ..Michael McDowell etc.)
- Fono
- Chuck
- Plan B
- The Phat Controller
- Acidslacker

(These boyos are also behind the JIGS AND RIGS FESTIVAL on RATHLIN ISLAND. All profits there went towards the HILL OF TARA campaign. This year they teamed up with Deviant and a few of the Tír na gCASTA heads.)

Sat 13 Oct
SEOMRA SPRAOI off Capel Street
suggested donation eu8

SweetTalk 27 Dublin - NIALL'S WEENEY & THE STORY OF 'O'

The CANDY COLLECTIVE's latest Dublin edition of SweetTalk later tonight is billed as 'performance with words, pictures and the chance of a dance'. Graphic designer NIALL SWEENEY presents the 'STORY OF 'O'' interspersed with performances by: PANTI | NEIL WATKINS | ANNIE RYAN | CATHY WHITE | SHIRLEY TEMPLE BAR | VEDA BEAUX REVES | TOM OF IRELAND | FAT MORGAN | ALAN d'UFFY.

Expect anything with this gang involved - the entourage were behind gutsy fetish club-nights GAG and POWDERBUBBLE (launched on the South City Quays when it was still a wasteland) and TONIE WALSH's massive ELEVATOR nights in the disused ORMOND PRINT WORKS. That building became the MORRISON HOTEL soon after - a contrast that reminds me how entertainment in Dublin seems more 'high-street' and sanitised these days. Audiences seemed a lot hungrier for experimentation - during that period we ran the GETOUT events in the FURNACE which were so jammed we were forced to close the doors on a queue stretching past what is now the MORGAN HOTEL.

Anyway the evening is divided into four chapters:
THE CHAIR
THE PHALLUS
THE HOUSE
THE SHOES !

...there will be presentations from:
SEAN HILLEN - (artist, Ireland)
ALAN ZÁRUBA - (graphic designer and design writer, Prague)
TONIE WALSH - (queer archivist and activist, Ireland)

11th October 2007
7pm doors
Admission €8
show 8pm
THE SUGAR CLUB, LEESON STREET, DUBLIN:

UNDERWORLD at TRIPOD

I expected a lot more and that was the general consensus. A few strangers told me they were enjoying themselves more hanging outside with their mates having spent EU38.

Are people really gonna put up with being shoved around in an over-crowed venue (the gig was way over-sold).

On this occasion they didn't do the usual 'dump everyone out after the gig so they can re-pay into the club after'. Security were obnoxious though - their policy was if you wander behind the barrier on way to the courtyard you pay re-admission (EU15!) regardless of fact you have a gig-stamp!

There an agressive attitude up there that wouldn't tempt me back regardless of who's performing - strange since the security-presence at JOHN REYNOLDS other gig (the ELECTRIC PICNIC) is not in the least paranoid. With POD CONCERTS making a big push to capture a slice of the lucrative events-cake they'd want to put more energy into treating their punters to a better bang for their buck.

'Che' Guevara - 40 years after his execution

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, a symbol of modern revolution, is being honoured around the world this week, 40 years after his execution.

Ceremonies in Ireland and throughout Latin America will mark the occasion.

Mr Guevara met the Castro brothers in Mexico in 1955, and quickly joined their uprising against then Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. By the time the revolution triumphed in January 1959 Mr Guevara was a key player.

Born in the Argentine city of Rosario, Mr Guevara travelled across Latin America in 1952 and 1953 and was shocked to see the economic disparity in the region. Mr Guevara was convinced that violence was needed to overturn the unjust social order in Latin America.

After leading a group of Cuban revolutionaries fighting with Marxist guerrillas in the Congo, he travelled to Bolivia in 1966. Mr Guevara led a small clutch of rebels in Bolivia for 11 months trying to spread revolution, but found little support. The Bolivian army and two Cuban-American US Central Intelligence Agency agents captured an ill Guevara in the village of La Higuera, and executed him on 9 October 1967. He was 39.

With his death, a legacy was born - in which Mr Guevara became a symbol of modern rebellion against western imperialism. His detractors still see him as a dangerous and deluded terrorist.

A famous photograph by Alberto Korda (above) was the basis of an iconic representation by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick which was eventually reproduced on everything from t-shirts to backpacks.

Mr Guevara also had Irish roots. His ancestor Patrick Lynch was born in Galway in 1715.

Cuban Ambassador Noel Carrillo will speak at a rally in Mr Guevara's memory this Thursday at Liberty Hall in Dublin, followed by a 'celebration' at the cuban restaurant Floridita.

Eoin Foyle and John Reynolds re-launch the Music Centre on Curved Street

Lets face it, it never really worked as a venue. It was primarily designed for TV production - bags of public money was pumped into the MUSIC CENTRE via TEMPLE BAR PROPERTIES so the facilities were state-of-the-art. Yet it was a souless black box that lacked any sense of intimacy leaving the audience to drift towards anything that vaguely resembled a nook-n-cranny (the ramp, bar and smoking area were usually crammed leaving performers isolated).

So the relaunch party was last night and the lads have done their best to address a few of those gaping problems. In the BUTTON FACTORY, as it's now called, the back wall has been opened up so the bar and performance space are more integrated.

Keep your eyes on this spot - maybe these guys can make it work.

Architecture open-house weekend - 19-21 Oct 07

For anyone with an inkling of interest in architecture this is one of those rare opportunities to explore Dublin's hidden gems.

NATHALIE WEADICK (we produced the BUTLER GALLERY [KILKENNY] COLLECTION publication with her many moons ago) is the brains behind the OPEN HOUSE project - she's now director of the IRISH ARCHITECTURE FOUNDATION and their website has full detail of what's on show along with a great location map.

This year the OPEN HOUSE programme is curated by SANDRA O'CONNELL editor of ARCHITECURE IRELAND. (Again it's a small world - SEXTON+ were behind the renaming of that magazine (previously IRISH ARCHITECT which we argued didn't reflect the multi-culturalism of the industry) while Sandra was project director on many of our Exhibition Design projects).

Anyway you can take your pic of tours which includes heritage buildings like the CUSTOMS HOUSE, a refurbishd warehouse penthouse as well as that blot recently 'beamed-down' on Palace Street beside CITY HALL and PETER PEARSON's wonderful SICK AND INDIGENT ROOM-KEEPERS SOCIETY! Unfortunately we wouldn't share Sandra's optimistic hope that peoples' views may be changed once we've visited these buildings - there's no changing the fact that this is an eye-sore in what was a spot-light site. I'm astounded that DUBLIN CITY could screw it up so badly right after their success with the 'hanging building' on corner of Townsend/Tara Street (now home to THE IRISH TIMES) - clearly not the same team of decision-makers involved on both).

One of my favorites is the 1950s flat in the IVEAGH FLATS complex which is a natural museum-piece. Rather than a recreation this is a home caught in a time-warp exactly as it was (down to every utensil) when the last resident left - the IVEAGH TRUST are to be applauded for having the foresight to preserve it.

So definitely an event you shouldn't miss since most of the building on show are never open to the general public. We all have the potential to influence the built environment - and since money doesn't always guarantee finesse the aim of the Open House programme is that by opening and showing buildings the public will make much better informed decisions.

Tours are FREE but will book-out quickly!

For a taster of what you'll catch follow this link.
www.architecturefoundation.ie/openhouse
01-670-8620
Info point at Temple Bar Cultural Centre from 13 Oct
(12 East Essex Street, Temple Bar)