Aires Mateus: hotel, Dublin, Ireland.

For some years now, Dublin's quays and waterfronts have been in the process of vigorous urban redevelopment. This new hotel, by the young Portuguese partnership of Aires Mateus, might be for the Park Hyatt chain, but it has boutique ambitions, reflected in its architecture. Inspired by the telluric, primordial geology of the famous Giant's Causeway in the north of Ireland, the three blocks that make up the hotel and apartment complex have craggy, massive facades, suggesting permanence and solidity in a rapidly changing urban environment. The regular rhythm of solid and void evokes the basalt columns of the Causeway and, more practically, suits the repetitive nature of hotel plans--here, rooms and suites are simply double-banked off spinal corridors. The prospect of a Portuguese practice building in Dublin is intriguing, as Portugal and Ireland have much in common--both on the extreme western fringe of Europe, both with histories of diaspora and emigration, both undergoing economic and social rejuvenation through EC investment and engagement with the wider world. The recent architecture of both countries also strives to embody a powerful and authentic sense of regional identity, so Aires Mateus' forthcoming experiments in Dublin promise to be a fascinating cross-fertilisation. C. S.

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