Developer Paddy McKillen, who owns stakes in the Jervis Street and Powerscourt shopping centres, is planning to develop a small 20-room hotel, arts centre, restaurant and open-air sculpture garden at Château La Coste winery in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. "We're creating a space filled with water and the gallery will appear to float on top of it," Pritzker prize-winning architect Tadao Ando said.
Ando has been hired by McKillen to oversee the centre, which will be designed by a who's who of architects, and is due to open next year.
Frank Gehry, best known for the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, designed the music pavilion while Jean Nouvel, the architect behind the Louvre museum planned for Abu Dhabi, designed a wine cellar. Renzo Piano, who worked on the Pompidou Centre in Paris with Richard Rogers, and Norman Foster have also designed structures.
Foster's practice designed the proposed U2 tower on Dublin's south docks and the extension planned for the Clarence Hotel, both of which McKillen is involved with.
Ando oversaw the masterplan for the French vineyard and also designed the main gallery.
As well as property, McKillen is involved in the Irish operations of restaurant chain Wagamama and Captain America's and retailers Tower Records and Muji.
He was previously involved in Champion Sports and also has business interests in Asia.