U2 frontman Bono wants to spend a staggering $237.2 million turning the hotel he owns into a spectacular city resort.

U2 frontman Bono wants to spend a staggering $237.2 million turning thehotel he owns in his native Dublin into a spectacular city resort. Bono in partnership with The Edge bought the 156 year old ClarenceHotel in 1992.

Now the pair have hired award-winning architect Norman Foster to drawup plans for a spectacular overhaul of the 49-room hotel - with designswhich include a glass atrium in the shape of a Viking long boat.

At the heart of the project is a sculptural “sky catcher” whichembraces the main public spaces and pulls daylight deep into the baseof the hotel. It emerges at roof level and incorporates a ‘skyroom’ andviewing terrace, uniting and complementing the existing buildings.

Creating a new urban destination, the scheme will regenerate the livelystreet environment of Temple Bar. A publicly accessible ground floorincorporates restaurants, shops, cafés and bars facing both theriverfront on Wellington Quay and Essex Street East to the South.

The redevelopment of the hotel will incorporate a number of progressivesustainability strategies, including the maximisation of natural lightand ventilation, to ensure an energy efficient and environmentallysensitive mixed-use hotel, spa and conference facility. Only thequayside facades of the existing hotel and adjoining buildings - all ofwhich are protected structures - would be retained, although the oakpanelling from the Clarence's Octagon Bar is to be salvaged for re-use.


The plans have been passed by the city council but have been met withopposition from locals, who object to the partial demolition of severalhistoric local buildings.