Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, Ireland



Architect
Daniel Libeskind & RHWL
Date Built
Opened 2010
Location
Grand Canal Square, Dublin, Ireland
Description
Daniel Libeskind says of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre building that it is, "based on the concept of stages — the stage of the theatre itself, the stage of the piazza, and the stage of the theatre lobby above the piazza, illuminated at night. The theatre becomes the main façade of a large public piazza that has a five star hotel and residences on one side and an office building on the other."  The theatre, like all  Libeskind buildings, makes a bold and dramatic statement in this area of redeveloped dockland on the edge of the Dublin city centre.

Mike Adamson, CEO of Live Nation Ireland, says, on the Bord Gáis Theatre website, that, "The concept of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre arose back in 1992. Mike Adamson CEO of Live Nation, Ireland and then CEO of the old ‘Point’ (now The O2) was constantly being asked by producers of ballet, operas, drama and musicals about staging their productions in Dublin. During this time, a restricted amount of large scale theatre productions were being staged at The O2 such as Cats, Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Glyndebourne Opera and Mamma Mia. It soon became obvious that the demand for theatre productions surpassed the weeks available in any given year at The O2. This ignited the natural question “could we build a proper theatre setting for top international theatrical productions elsewhere in Dublin?”  He goes on to say that the Dublin Dockland Development Authority wanted to have an iconic building at the heart of the Grand Canal development and indeed they went on to appoint Daniel Libeskind, theatre architects RHWL and Developer Chartered Land to create this landmark building.