Radical plans to redevelop the Clarence Hotel need to be viewed in the context of the Liffey quays, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

MORE than 30 years ago, the London-based Architectural Review produced a special supplement on Dublin at a time when the city was being badly knocked about. It was an important reminder of what we had that was precious and a clarion call to halt needless destruction of the urban fabric.

Kenneth Browne, who edited the extensive, illustrated supplement, A Future for Dublin, published in 1974, was particularly eloquent about the Liffey Quays. "Without question," he wrote, "it is the quays which give topographical coherence to Dublin. They are the frontispiece to the city and the nation.

"These riverside buildings are the essential Dublin . . . grand, yet human in scale, varied yet orderly, they present a picture of a satisfactory city community; it is as though two ranks of people were lined up, mildly varying in their gifts, appearance and fortune, but happily agreed on basic values.

"Individually unremarkable as works of architecture, collectively they are superb, and form a perfect foil to the special buildings such as the Four Courts and the Custom House.

"If they are allowed to disintegrate, to be replaced by unsympathetic new buildings, the most memorable aspect of the city will be lost."

Quite a lot of development has taken place along the quays since those words were written - some of it outstanding, some awful and much merely mediocre.

Many historic buildings from different eras that were still standing in 1974 have now gone, notably on Arran Quay, Bachelors Walk and on Essex Quay.

Nonetheless, the quays retain the essential characteristics that were so well articulated by the Architectural Review - particularly their human scale and the visual relationship between the ordinary and the extraordinary, the horizontal and the vertical. It is critical that these proportions should be retained.

That's why the Dublin City Development Plan designates the quays as a conservation area and says it's the city council's policy to "protect and reinforce [ their] important civic design character" and ensure that infill development will "complement the character of the quays in terms of context, scale and design".

These are the parameters within which a radical plan has been put forward by developer Paddy McKillen and two members of the U2 rock band, Bono and The Edge, to redevelop the Clarence Hotel. The aim, according to their architects, Foster and Partners, is to create "the most sustainable five-star hotel in Europe".

The number of bedrooms would be increased from an unviable 45 to 114, with a further 28 suites, by incorporating the adjoining Dollard building and four Georgian houses on Wellington Quay, all of which are protected structures as, indeed, is the Clarence Hotel itself.

Only the front façades would be retained. The rear elevations of the hotel and adjoining buildings on East Essex Street would be demolished and replaced by an undulating glazed façade with shops and cafés at street level and bedrooms above.

Of the interior, only the oak panelling of the Octagon Bar would be salvaged.

East Essex Street certainly needs a lift. Without the Joy of Cha coffee shop, Lemon Jelly, Vaughan Johnson's wine shop and the newly refurbished Connolly Books, it would be virtually a dead zone.

The Project Arts Centre and Bob's mega-pub add very little to its streetlife, except at night.

The big idea in the €150 million redevelopment scheme is to create a bulbous "skycatcher" atrium as its centrepiece. Rising through all floors, this would be a very dramatic space, topped by a glazed pod "skyroom" bar with a 360-degree panorama of Dublin - much closer to the centre than the Gravity Bar.

The overall height is being pitched at the same level as the existing hotel, which was raised to accommodate a vast penthouse in its most recent renovation (1993-1995).

An elliptical canopy with a reflective surface - a "white hovering halo", as senior partner Andy Bow described it - would oversail it. Overall, the scheme would extend the hotel's frontage on Wellington Quay from 25 metres to 90 metres.

The adjoining four-storey buildings, which date from the later period of the Wide Streets Commissioners, would have three-storey glazed extensions added on top, set back somewhat from their façades.

There can be no doubt that this would look odd; it would have been more honest to have proposed demolishing these buildings, which include the former Dublin Workingmen's Club.

The impact on Wellington Quay, viewed up close or from afar, would be substantial - particularly with the unifying "halo" overhead.

As the architects say: "Individually, the buildings are unremarkable examples of urban vernacular architecture with no outstanding examples of design detail or any other feature of value, other than the contribution made by the group to the streetscape of the south quays." But maybe that's the point.

Norman Foster has described the redevelopment of the Clarence as "an ambitious project - architecturally and structurally - with a confident yet sympathetic civic presence. It presents an exciting opportunity to regenerate Temple Bar's river frontage, while also creating a bold new addition to Dublin's skyline."

An elaborate brochure on the design refers to Foster's provenance in handling additions to historic buildings, such as the Sackler Galleries at Royal Academy of Arts in London, the spectacular dome on the Reichstag in Berlin and the Great Court of the British Museum, with its extraordinary geometric glazed roof.

But the conservation lobby is not convinced. An Taisce regards the plan for the Clarence as "entirely inappropriate" for a group of protected structures and the historic location.

"It is the sort of scheme which could be developed with advantage on an unconstrained development site, particularly in the Docklands."

Using much more florid language, An Taisce's one-time chairman Michael Smith, who owns a house on Ormond Quay, has condemned the proposal as "execrable" and said "first-rate historic environments" such as Wellington Quay was "not Cape Canaveral [ and] should not be subsumed into one spaceship".

Dublin City Council's conservation office also opposes the demolition of protected structures, which are listed as being of "regional importance". It also takes the view that "façadism is a discredited architectural device" and says the applicants should be invited to provide a solution that "does not involve demolition".

The council's preliminary planning assessment also notes that permission cannot be granted for the demolition of protected structures "save in exceptional circumstances". The case made by the architects is based on design quality, the retention of the Clarence as a hotel and the revitalisation of this part of Temple Bar.

Five weeks ago, the applicants were requested to provide a rake of further information on the project - including an evaluation of the unconsidered option of refurbishing, rather than demolishing, the existing buildings.

And while chief planner Dick Gleeson is known to be quite enthusiastic, approval is by no means a done deal.