Is there any project statement available from that Dublin Port project released by Grafton Architects? I agree we need that area to be redeveloped but what I see overall looks very random and not much considered (like that rised walk for example). It needs serious strategy to make it alive and working.
You can read the Design Statement here:
https://www.dublinport.ie/wp-conten...our-Mill-Masterplan-GraftonArchitects-DPC.pdf
But overall, the idea is that the walkway allows to create a connection between the port and the city. The walkway allows people to access the Flour Mill as a new cultural destination without intruding on the operation of the port and avoiding the health and safety issues of mixing heavy industrial and port activity with pedestrians and leisure/cultural activity.
They argue that the walkway is an attraction in upon itself as it offers the visual spectacular of the port activities to visitors, putting the large industrial and shipping infrastructure and processes on display as something to be appreciated and marveled at.
I also would personally say, Dublin Port has recently and for a while before been in the news and even in Government / Council planning documents as somewhere that could be moved out of the city so that the land can be redeveloped for housing and as a Docklands 2.0. Any efforts by the Port Company to expand operation are met with opposition and it is generally not seen as a positive or contributory part of the bay. Most Dubliners don't see the Port as a part of the culture and urban value in our city and as such, this seems to be a way for Dublin Port to place themselves within people's frame of vision and intermingle it more clearly within the cultural context of the city; to reframe its physical presence as an important part of the city's heritage rather than as a growing concern and barrier to the city's future. In short, Dublin Port's chief executive is strongly opposed to moving the port and this is perhaps a way for the Port Company to solidify their place in the city and try to soften pressure for it to move to Bremore etc.