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U2 recording studio to tower over Dublin

Toronto has its CN Tower and New York its Empire State Building. Now Dublin is about to join the skyscraper club with the U2 Tower, a 130-metre building to be named after the Irish rock band.

The tower will bring new meaning to the U2 hit Vertigo, with a recording studio for the band on the top floor.

The project has been designed by Irish architects Burdon Craig Dunne Henry, who won an international competition with their twisting 30-storey design.

Described as like a "Brancusi sculpture," it will be the tallest building in Dublin when it is completed in 2009, and is expected to become a landmark.

However, the distinctive tower will be nowhere near large enough to be counted among the world's tallest buildings.

Three Canadian architecture firms — Andritsos/Luke, Brown + Storey and Kearns Mancini — entered the competition, which drew bids from around the world.

The project, to be built on docklands in south Dublin, will have 182 apartments selling for 1-1.5 million euros ($1.4-2.1 million).

A recording studio for U2, with views of the city and the ocean, will be in a penthouse at the top. Bono and the band will have a dedicated elevator to take them between the studio and the café and terrace on the ground floor.

U2 already own a hotel in their home city, and band members have invested in real estate in Dublin.

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