Dublin shortlisted for World Design Capital 2014

Yesterday we got the exciting news that Dublin has made the shortlist of 3 cities, one of whom will be named World Design Capital 2014 later this year. The other two cities shortlisted are Cape Town and Bilbao.
 

At the launch in City Hall by Dublin City Council of World Design Capital bid 'Pivot Dublin' with John Tierney Dublin City Manager and Paul Keogh President of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland

The bid document titled 'Pivot Dublin - Turn design inside out' was a truly inspirational submission to the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) based in Montreal. Engineers Ireland (http://www.engineersireland.ie/) together with the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (http://www.riai.ie/) are listed as supporting Design Organisations.

The bid document makes bold statements of current and future ambitions for our capital city.

'Dublin is mountains and sea, swerve of shore and bend of bay. Dublin has history, it has deep roots, constantly refreshed...Its about the value of difference. Its about everything that's possible when people, relationships, creativity and culture collide'.

In Dublin we can see the new urban design freshness in the Samuel Beckett Bridge (http://www.dublincity.ie/RoadsandTraffic/MajorTransportProjects/Samuel%20Beckett%20Bridge/Pages/default.aspx) in engineering terms and the National Convention Centre adjacent to the Bridge in architectural terms. The Bridge won last year's Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards and the National Convention Centre has won many.

The design award is intended to cause the winning city to redesign itself and thus improve social, cultural and economic life. After the City of Turin won the award in 2008 it was estimated that the value of the award to the city exceeded the economic effect of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

We look forward to the next round of the competition and assisting the endeavour wherever we can.