The Irish Times

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) has unveiled a radical redesign by an award-winning American landscape architect for Grand Canal Square, with the aim of transforming it into an "urban magnet" for the south docks area. The square, at the west end of Grand Canal Dock, will be one of the largest paved public spaces in the city. The new Grand Canal Theatre, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind, and the Meridien hotel will both open on to it as well as shops, cafes and restaurants. Martha Schwartz's design features a red "carpet", made from bright resin-glass paving, extending from the theatre into the dock, crossed by a lush green "carpet" of polygon-shaped planters. Angled red-glowing "light sticks" will sprout from the red paving. The planters will feature marsh vegetation to soften the space and to act as a reminder of the historic wetland nature of the site, according to the docklands authority's architecture director, John McLaughlin.