U2 Has Architectural Problems
by Bonnie Alter, London on 12.14.07
You can't always get what you want....ooops, wrong group. U2 is having big problems with the 32-storey skyscraper that it wants to build, which will be the tallest building in Dublin and all of Ireland. Plans include a recording studio that will hang below vertical wind turbines, a huge solar panel, luxury flats, 34 social-housing flats and a five-star luxury eco-hotel. But there is opposition by all kinds of groups (not just those who can't stand Bono or his music).
Ireland's National Trust is against the so-called "U2 Towers" because of its impact on the surroundings. It will be located in a low-rise, traditional historic sector of Dublin and could be an "incongruous blot on the skyline". Since it is located in a regeneration area, no planning permission was needed. The Trust said "We have raised concerns about the overall lack of a strategy in Dublin to deal with global warming on developments in the docklands area (due to rising sea levels). We want to see it subject to proper public consultation. There is a sense of it being done in a far too behind-the-scenes manner." U2 also want to demolish an historic building and replace it with a super-luxury sustainable hotel for all the new Celtic tiger millionaires.
Others were scathing about the band's decision to move part of their music operations out of Ireland to the Netherlands in order to pay lower taxes on royalties. "The common good is not served by allowing the richest people in Ireland to build with the benefit of tax incentives". Rockers U2 have hit back--insisting the massive building will boost the city's economy. :: artkrush
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I bet the band are fighting with Bono over the name too.
No doubt he wants to call it 'The Bono Towers' and have a morseleum for himself in the basement, or perhaps a sky-throne-coffin to store his cryogenically frozen body in wait for his second-coming.
Surely he should be building a state of the art ark, like Noah, but even larger than some of his Bono's best friends' super yachts, to ensure his ultimate biblical act has the capacity to save all the animals and all the Africans too.
U2 are such a bunch of clowns!
They should stick to writing music instead of trying to build 32 story penis extension towers or being reincarnated as Jesus Christ-saviors of humanity.
Modesty isn't in their oeuvre.
Ireland has every right to question their motives.
Are we sure these guys are Irish?!
Does Dublin need this or is this just a rich-guy project?
Wow these guys will stop at nothing. This is a ridiculous way to spend untold fortunes especially in the name of environmentally friendly.
Next thing you know they'll be offering a U2 currency on the market and call it...you guessed it..the Bono.
I'm Irish. And I used to live in that part of Dublin until last month.
I think more high rise buildings are exactly what that part of town, the docklands, needs. Less sprawl, more density!
I am surprise that that U2 would not have the project in order. They always seem to stand up for the right reason. They way this story is being told makes me question if they have actually given up on what they claimed to believe in. "Helping people and the world"
Can someone tell me why they were not present at the SOS concert?