Architecture & Tall Buildings

Tall buildings in the form of towers or spires have traditionally indicated places of importance. The Renaissance towers of Florence, Siena and San Gimigniano reflected the importance of their owners in the social order.

Church spires have reflected the importance of religion in earlier societies. In the era of the market economy, financial institutions are located in tall buildings. However, only recently have tall buildings become a major planning and urban design issue in Ireland.

In Dublin, tall buildings have been proposed for a number of urban and suburban sites including Heuston Station, the Docklands, Blanchardstown and Tallaght. Cork can still claim to have Ireland’s tallest building with its refurbished County Hall and further towers are planned for its Docklands area. Not to be outdone, Limerick has a new 17-storey Clarion Hotel on the Shannon Quays.

The desire to make a statement by means of a tall building has been a significant catalyst in driving the skylines of cities upwards. High-rise buildings are those that are significantly higher than their context.

In America and Asia, these can typically be between 200 to 300-metres. However, in Europe thresholds are considerably lower. The debate concerning high buildings in most European cities has focussed on protecting historic urban character (Dublin, Copenhagen and Amsterdam) versus the desire to present a modern image and compete globally (Rotterdam and Frankfurt).

There is now a general acceptance that tall buildings should only be planned away from medieval cores on sites where appropriate infrastructure is available.

The Potential of Towers
Towers continue to capture the imagination of the media and public at large. They attract attention, create controversy and, on occasion, inspire. So prominent can they become that the tallest of them can aspire to join that exclusive organisation “Great Towers of the World”, whose members include the highest towers on earth.

When we visit a major city for the first time, we regularly go to the public facilities at the top of its tallest building. Since the era of the skyscraper in the United States, in the early 20th century, a series of high-rise structures were built worldwide, based on innovations in structural and services engineering, in addition to the landmark benefit of building the highest tower in town.

In recent times, there has been a new movement in tower-building worldwide. While emerging countries, particularly in South-East Asia, have attempted to improve their identity by constructing very high towers, there has also been a growing acceptance of tall buildings in European cities including Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Frankfurt, Paris and London.

Part of the tower’s growing acceptability in Europe can be explained by the higher quality of architecture in prospect. Norman Foster’s buildings for insurance giant Swiss Re in London and Commerzbank in Frankfurt, and Dominque Perrault’s National Library in Paris are indicators of the potential elegance and visual interest that towers can achieve.

Some architects have used the tower to advance the concept of the ‘green’ tower. This exploits the ecological potential of landscaped atria within the building, in addition to climate control solutions providing a high sustainability index and quality of architecture.

This revival of the tower as an elegant symbol of civilisation is in contrast to earlier attempts, particularly in Europe, to build towers within or alongside the historic city cores, which were marred by poor quality designs.

Towers such as the Tour Montparnasse in Paris, the Messeturm in Frankfurt, or our own Ballymun Towers could hardly be described as elegant or life-enhancing. Such buildings, together with high-rise slab blocks, have a particularly poor reputation, in both social and visual analysis terms.

Today, however, architects have a greater potential to exploit and elaborate innovation in structural services engineering, allowing the tower to be developed as an object of great elegance in its own right.

Public Realm
Much discussion on tall buildings has tended to concentrate on aesthetics but has ignored issues such as the impact of high-rise at street level, the micro climate, the surrounding land uses and the public realm in the urban quarter in which the tower has been constructed.

Some of the best tower projects are those that provide large public spaces at ground level and public access to viewing galleries or restaurants at their highest levels. Good examples of this type are the Citicorp Building in New York or the Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

As cities and their skylines evolve, well-designed tall buildings that contribute to the public realm, interact with and contribute positively to its surroundings at street level, have a role to play in intensifying and signposting cities. Used sparingly, they can become landmarks to navigate an increasingly complex urban landscape and provide spectacular views both for those who live in and visit the city, and those who actually inhabit them.

New Strategies
The Dublin City Development Plan and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Plan both articulate general policies for high-rise buildings. The study "Managing Intensification and Change – A Strategy for Dublin Building Height", prepared in 2000 for Dublin City Council by DEGW, identified potential locations for buildings higher than their context, based on key criteria.

The report recommended pro-active planning by preparing development briefs for key sites. With the large number of planning applications now emerging, this is a key priority – not just for Dublin City Council but for all urban local authorities.

By taking this initiative there is now a potential in our larger Irish cities to evolve a rich vocabulary of prototypes for urban high-rise buildings, which draws on current best practice in tower design.

At the beginning of the 21st century, in an era of continued growth, with Irish Cities evolving and developing at an ever-increasing rate, it is an appropriate time to reflect on future direction and to devise appropriate policies for new forms of development, including tall buildings.

These policies should include studies and area action plans for key sites in all of our major cities so as to ensure high quality development that contributes to the best interests of the community.

It is important that these policies maintain the vision and objective of our own cities as models of European cities in their urban design, architecture and quality of life.