Now, after the monument, here's the book - Irish Architectural News

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Now, after the monument, here's the book

Archiseek / Ireland / News / 2004 / May 20 2004: Now, after the monument, here's the book

Now that the public seems more positively disposed towards the Spire - funny how virtually no one calls it "The Spike" any more - its London-based architect, Ian Ritchie, has produced a book and DVD to celebrate the achievement. The beautifully illustrated small-format book makes it clear that the design was developed from "personal reflections and desires", with the aim of creating an object for a unique site. "The intention of art is not to please the public," Ritchie writes. And indeed, as he concedes, regular surveys showed that at least 70 per cent of Dubliners thought the Spire was pointless. But that was before they had seen it. When it was capped in January 2003, more than 4,000 people turned up to cheer.

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