About 8,000 people attended the exhibition of the four proposals for the redevelopment of the former mail boat pier in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.The exhibition featuring scale models of each design closed yesterday after two weeks.
The proposal eventually chosen is intended to provide "an exceptional landmark building of international architectural quality that regenerates and enlivens the waterfront". It will replace the Carlisle pier terminal which became an icon of Irish emigration in the middle of the last century.
Visitors to the exhibition were asked to fill out commentary cards. While one or two were negative, describing the proposals as "grotesque", or too big, most gave a detailed critique.
Mr John Cogan, one of the 1,500 people who viewed the exhibition yesterday, favoured proposal D - two long, narrow, glass-fronted buildings with a public space between them. It includes a floating stage and an aquarium.
"It is cut down the middle and you can see through it and out to the harbour," he said. An architect himself and from Dún Laoghaire, he says the projects are "a bit more commercial than I like to see and all are bigger than they need to be".
Ms Angela Murphy from Blackrock also liked this exhibit, describing it as the "least intrusive", but she believed the development was being built for "rich people" because of the commercial element of shops and apartments.
The Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company says the winning entry will be chosen in April after its board considers a technical report from experts on the contenders and a separate report based on the responses of those who viewed the exhibition, and other public submissions.
Mr Johnny O'Brien, from Dún Laoghaire, chose model B, "just for the diversity of it", by architect Mr Daniel Libeskind, who designed the replacement for New York's twin towers. This involves a sail-like glass construction with an Irish diaspora museum, a hotel and restaurants, bars, shops and apartments and a "prow" at the front.
Mr O'Brien said it included the proposed county council library, another glass construction and a pathway across the railway and down to the harbour. "This is a separate development and is a bit misleading, a bit 'hypey-falsey', and I don't think it should be there," he added.
Ms Geraldine Byrne from Killiney liked the fact that the library linked the harbour into the town. "I like the look of the overall design,"she said. "I think the hotel is going to bring life to the place and it won't be dead at night."
One of the youngest visitors to the exhibit, Gary Power (14), from Killiney, was also impressed, saying the library "makes it better". However, "it would be nice to have the aquarium from model D", he said.
