Dublin City Council has announced the appointment of Paul Keogh Architects + Dixon Jones as design team leaders for the city's College Green Civic Plaza project following a two-stage EU procurement competition which attracted submissions from Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe.
Dublin City Architect Ali Grehan said: "The project at College Green offers the opportunity for Dublin to regain an urban space of prime civic importance and for that space to be of national and international significance. Dixon Jones and Paul Keogh Architects are highly regarded architects with extensive experience in the public realm and we are delighted to have appointed them as leads on this project."
Planned to start on site in January 2018, the project will pedestrianise the three-sided plaza, which has hosted major political rallies and speeches by US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Considered Dublin's equivalent of Trafalgar Square, the city centre open space is today surrounded by the Irish Parliament House, now home to the Bank of Ireland, several historic houses and Trinity College Dublin.
The development aims to contribute to improving the quality of the city's public realm, thereby increasing Dublin's attractiveness both as a place to do business and as a place to live.
A flagship project in the implementation of the City Council's public realm strategy, the College Green development will remove through traffic from the area. Senior Architect Paul Keogh stated: "We are aiming to create 'Dublin's living room' - a place that is safe, adaptable and friendly for people of all ages, both for everyday social interaction and for major public events, comparable with world-class spaces of similar scale internationally".