News Archive
Date: December 15th 2008 Project: O2 Arena Dublin
The O2 in Dublin, designed by HOK Sport, will open on 16th December following an €80 million redevelopment of Dublin's historic venue formerly known as the Point Theatre. The O2 is a development of the Point Exhibition Company Limited, made up of Live Nation and Harry Crosbie.
The challenge for HOK Sport was to provide a sustainable future for the venue by converting the interior hall into a unique elliptical amphitheatre auditorium, while retaining the essential features of the famous listed warehouse. The design has provided a state-of-the-art venue which will position it as one of Ireland's most exciting entertainment venues. HOK Sport designed the concept, and international multidisciplinary engineering consultancy Buro Happold carried out the structural design.
John Barrow, Senior Principal at HOK Sport commented on the project, "we are proud to have worked with Live Nation on this project. The architectural design is a response to the unique characteristics of the remarkable heritage building, the context of the new development and the unique opportunities and constraints of the site generally. The refurbishment and reuse of the historic warehouse as a public entertainment venue will have a considerable social impact on Dublin and we are confident that The O2 in Dublin will become a world class venue."
"We wanted to make the architectural expression as light as possible," said Damon Lavelle, HOK's project architect. The lighting gives an "ethereal, diaphanous effect" that contrasts with the stone and brick of the railway depot, dating from 1878.
"The old train shed was built in the 1880s, and converted into a theatre a century later," explained Alice Brook, a structural engineer from Buro Happold, who was on the design team since work started in 2006."The team's task was to redevelop the building in its entirety, creating a concert venue for Dublin to meet international standards, and attract premier acts to Ireland’s capital – while also trying to expose as much of the classic façade as possible, and contrast it with the new."
The new auditorium has been designed to the highest international standards, offering up to 14,000 seated and standing capacity, with outstanding flexibility to create the right ambience for smaller events by screening off parts of the seating bowl.
Through the use of retractable seating, the complete venue floor will open up for maximum standing capacity of 9,000, when required. Despite its large capacity the auditorium will offer an intimate arrangement and the stage itself will feature exceptionally wide wings to accommodate a great variety of stage and sports events.
Capita Symonds are the acoustic engineers on the project. "On the acoustics side, the challenge was to transform an existing warehouse-like space in to a world class venue with unparalleled acoustics," explained Daryl Prasad, Associate Director from Capita Symonds Acoustics. "To ensure good sightlines long spans were required, as such the external shell needed to be relatively lightweight. This contradicts traditional auditoria design which would have been far too heavy! As such we spent a significant amount of time fine tuning the internal acoustic but also stopping the music noise affecting nearby residents."
The existing historic quayside frontage of the building has been retained and at night the O2 Dublin can be lit in any tone that is required to suit the mood. The lights are made up of three LED elements, which can be mixed under software control to achieve any colour.
"The specialist lighting we provided is inspired by the atmosphere of a gig. Colour change lighting is used in the auditorium, concourses and on the facades, while the new façades, constructed of translucent polycarbonate, are backwashed with coloured light," added Lee Barker-Field of Faber Maunsell | AECOM. With a rapid construction timeline of 13 months, The O2 in Dublin is an intriguing mixture of old and new.
Within the context of the surrounding development, it will act as a focal point with high visibility and
architectural importance, redefining this important destination and expressing the special character which makes it a truly unique venue.
For further information please contact
Sophie Therouanne at Populous (London)
Telephone +44 (0)20 8874 7666
Facsimilie +44 (0)20 8874 7470
Email media@populous.com