2 Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrellof Grafton Architects with their Silver Lion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale

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1 Ireland was one of the first European countries to be brought to the edge of the abyss by the property bubble. In 008, when the bubble of increased speculative construction and rapidly rising property prices suddenly burst, the banking system collapsed. By the time the Celtic Tiger received 85 billion in European support in 010, housing prices had fallen 5 per cent. Currently, the rate of loans has returned to 7 per cent, bringing the number of approved loans in the year 01 to the same level as in Homes are now worth about 60 per cent less than in 006, when the boom was at its height. But the injection of capital has brought the free fall to a stand; the economy is growing again. In 011, the budget deficit was reduced from 1 to fourteen per cent; it now lies around eight per cent. The national debt, however, currently around 118 per cent, still grows, and the associated interest rate remains a sword of Damocles over the Irish national budget. Remarkably, the architecture policy has essentially escaped being under pressure during these turbulent years. Although retrenched, the ambition to contribute to a sustainable, safe and social environment remains. The focus has shifted more towards the wider components of architecture (telling stories, building communities, research). With the spectre of vacant speculative projects still fresh in their mind s eye, the circumstances have called the Irish people, who are spread throughout the world, largely towards the security of their own homes. An openness to influence TEXT: SANDRA ANDREA O CONNELL Ireland s success at the 01 Venice Architecture Biennale, crowned with a Silver Lion for Dublin practice Grafton Architects, has firmly put the spotlight on this island on the western edge of Europe and its young and innovative architecture culture. The last fifteen years have been marked by a particularly strong showing of Irish architecture, both at home and abroad, including a focus on a quality public building programme and Irish architects winning significant international competitions. The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI), which guest-edits this issue s Eurovision with support from the DAHG, supports architecture in Ireland through a wide range of initiatives, including its annual Irish Architecture Awards, architectural competitions, a dynamic programme of public lectures and exhibitions, and quality publications, such as its Annual Review and the journal Architecture Ireland. Internationalisation is a key focus for the RIAI, and the Institute was recently invited to present exhibitions on contemporary Irish architecture at Tong Ji University in Shanghai and at the RIBA s Florence Gallery in London. The RIAI actively works with government, clients and the public to expand the conversation about archi tecture and to provide new platforms where the public and profession meet. It also delivers aspects of the Government Policy on Architecture, including research, awareness and education. As the registration body, the RIAI is committed to ensure standards in architecture and a quality built environment for all. The RIAI has over 000 members, of which 700 are architects on the statutory register. The RIAI is delighted to guest edit Eurovision, which profiles Ireland s leading and emerging practices and explores how openness to outside influence is what allows this island architecture to contribute so successfully in Europe and further afield. Info The 01 Award Winners pictured at the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards in Dublin, July 01. Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrellof Grafton Architects with their Silver Lion at the 01 Venice Architecture Biennale Ireland Guest edited by a leading national organization in one of the European countries. Within a range of themes, they strive to give deeper insight into the current state of architectural affairs. The Eurovision Ireland team, photographed in the historic Dublin Assembly Rooms, courtesy of the Irish Georgian Society (left to right): John Graby, RIAI Director; Emmett Scanlon, architect and A10 correspondent; Michael Hayes, architectural graduate and contributor; Neil McCullough, contributing architect; Sandra Andrea O Connell, editor RIAI publications and guest editor; Kathryn Meghen, Assistant Director RIAI. Not pictured: Lisa Cassidy, architectural graduate and contributor, and photographer Alice Clancy. The RIAI has published todate three editions of its new annual review, Irish Architecture, which contains over twenty awardwinning buildings, along with essays and reviews by leading cultural and architectural commentators. Introduction to the Government Policy on Architecture Ireland is currently midway through its second Government Policy on Architecture ( ), Towards a Sustainable Future, which seeks to promote awareness and understanding of the contribution of good design to both daily life and the well-being of society as a whole. Good architecture is fundamentally about much more than individual buildings. It must also concern itself with the realisation of an acceptable human environment for all. The policy places an emphasis on sustainable development of the environment and urban design, incorporates architectural heritage in a holistic integrated manner while encouraging and supporting high quality modern architecture. In pursuing its Policy on Architecture, the Irish Government promotes high standards of design and construction in building works for which it is responsible and supports the pursuit MARIE-LOUISE HALPENNY Ireland s representation at the 01 Venice Architecture Biennale by Heneghen Peng architects. of high standards within the Built Environment. The Policy also ensures that the architectural heritage is conserved and maintained to a high standard and fosters the demand for high quality architecture in the community as a whole. Ireland s Government Policy on Architecture is structured around fifteen key statements and contains 5 actions to be implemented over its lifetime, primarily, by a range of Government Departments, state agencies and key stakeholders, such as the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and the Irish Architecture Foundation. The Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht has the lead role in the implementation of more than half of the actions along with coordination of policy and the implementation of all 5 actions. Info 8 A10 # 5 Eurovision: Ireland Eurovision: Ireland A10 # 5 9

2 Post-bubble zeal Since Ireland adopted its first Architecture Policy in 00, the quality of architecture has gone up, as has public interest, says Martin Colreavy, Principal Advisor for Built Heritage and Architecture Policy, DAHG. And although the crisis has hit Ireland hard, Colreavy will not let go of the ambition to improve and support a high-quality and sustainable built environment. Michelle Fagan, President of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, reflects on what architects can do to help make the ambitions come true. IRELAND TEXT: INDIRA VAN T KLOOSTER, PHOTOGRAPHY: Ireland Martin Colreavy is the Principal Advisor, Built Heritage and Architectural Policy at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht with special responsibility for the new Government Policy on Architecture Martin has extensive experience as a Senior Architect within the private sector, working both in Ireland and Germany. Michelle Fagan is President of the RIAI. Michelle graduated from Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) in 1990 and has worked in Dublin, Frankfurt and Berlin. She founded FKL architects with Paul Kelly and Gary Lysaght in FKL architects is an international, award-winning practice and has curated the Irish exhibition at the 006 Venice Architecture Biennale, SubUrban to SuperRural. Even Turkey has a (draft) architectural policy, so a policy as such is not what makes the difference. What does? Martin Colreavy: What is important is to have a strong network of many disciplines stranded together to assist in the practical implementation of a national policy. To support this, we have set up an inter-departmental approach with stakeholders, such as the Office for Public Works (OPW), the Department of Environment, the Arts Council, the Royal Institute of Architects Ireland (RIAI), National Academic Institutions, the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF), which offers critical reflection on contemporary architecture, and a strong local and regional network of professionals in cities and counties within local government, whom we depend greatly on. How can you measure its effectiveness? MC: We have actually tried to investigate that more precisely, and it is difficult to get scientifically sound answers. We cannot actually tell how many jobs have been created or how much better the quality has become since the introduction of an architectural policy. However, we have found a raised awareness on architecture and more debates about quality, reuse, community-based design, or identity. In Westport, for example, investment in the public realm is based on a designled approach. Peter Hynes, an architect and County Manager in Mayo, is one of its driving forces behind the process. In Dublin, City Architect Ali Grehan works on new developments in the city, such as the proposed Parnell Cultural Quarter, based around a new city library. How can you fund this architectural policy in times of economic crisis? MC: Ireland has been in challenging times before, such as in the 1980s, and since then we have perhaps learned to work more collectively on creating places like in Westport and Cork. For any policy, financial support is vital; without it, a policy can be perceived to be ineffective. Research and experience have taught us that good architecture lasts longer; it s also connected to making healthier places. That s why we financially support research programmes to decide how to proceed in the future on an evidence-based approach to policy development. Also, the public investment programme of the past fifteen years has produced many outstanding local government buildings, such as in Swords, Co. Dublin; Dooradoyle, Co. Limerick, and most recently in Wexford. It s important to keep architecture policy and its networks alive across the many multidisciplinary strands of application. Is the private sector also included in this? MC: There may not be a widely accepted agreement on quality in the private realm and consumers make a choice for various reasons one cannot legislate for. But we have found a higher public awareness on architectural quality, also inspired by television shows like Room to Improve by Dermot Bannon and Grand Designs by Kevin McCloud. People are now using the word architect they did not do so before! Ireland has set new goals for architecture in the future, amongst them, sustainable reuse of its cities and towns. What s the focus? MC: When we translated the policy into [native] Irish we found that many words were difficult to translate directly, such as urban design. However, what we did discover were old words that did exist before in Gaelic which dealt with the making and crafting of places. This is important because in our culture, the Irish diaspora, the ability to tell stories has always been important. Perhaps that s why we constantly try to find new ways to combine the old and the new and communicate this in different ways. Sometimes a policy is as much about this process as indeed the specific outcome itself. How can (young) architects be included in the government s ambitions? MC: We did promote the competition approach to design, like participation in Europan. But we also invest in open call systems, tendering procedures to make them more accessible to young architects. Michelle Fagan: The Government Policy is an indication of the commitment to quality in the built environment and a recognition of the importance of the place architecture has in society. It is there to be used by any architect, young or old. procurement; it has been used to facilitate the work of architects through award schemes and research. The policy is open and inclusive, and young architects are the architects of the future and so will benefit the most from the policy. Architects can be included in the government s ambitions by engaging with them, promoting the importance of architecture by being relevant to society. How does RIAI help young architects? MF: By supporting their work in a professional sense. We have launched a new award for Emerging Practices, which leads to exposure through publication and public lectures. As a young architect in Ireland, in general, the first opportunities come from small commissions from family and friends in private housing. There are very few opportunities for larger commissions until practices are more established. That is why the RIAI promotes open competitions as an effective procurement method for getting the best quality architecture built. many competitions being won by new and young practices, such as A Architects' Tullamore Arts Centre (see A10 #9), and has resulted in a number of award-winning buildings. It is also very important that more young architects become interested in the role of their profession in the wider community and put themselves out there to show what they can do. We need to create the demand by showing that there is a need. What s your biggest concern regarding the position of the architect in Ireland? MF: Underlying the economic situation is a question about the relevance of architects to society at large. Many clients are not aware of the range of services architects can provide - we come after decisions have been made about the site, the form of the building and the costs. This is probably why architects are very comfortable at the domestic scale, where we have maximum impact. The opportunity to create the best possible built environment is then lost to society. This is reinforced by a certain level of myopia on the part of the architectural community, where we tend to talk to ourselves rather than engage in the public discussion that goes on outside. Architects have to put themselves into a leading position by political and community engagement. They need to focus on issues relating to our sustainability as a species on this planet; that is where the opportunities and duties for architecture lie, and where architects can show their relevance. Ireland 0 A10 # 5 Eurovision: Ireland Eurovision: Ireland A10 # 5 1

3 Global Ireland Located on a site of great natural Nordic beauty, this site-specific art pavilion by A Architects was designed for Pulp Press a video installation by Irish artist John Gerard. Pulp Press recreates the former giant paper machines that once dominated this post-industrial site at Kistefos, Norway now a sculpture park as a projected hyper-realistic large image. JIRU HAVRAN Island architecture TEXT: SANDRA ANDREA O CONNELL Adrift between the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, Island Ireland occupies a position of remoteness and isolation on the western edge of Europe one that has been celebrated by its literary figures. You might think that the sea is company, writes the poet Seamus Heaney, before unleashing nature s savage force, holding people and buildings in a tight grip in his poem, Storm on the Island. This geographic separation from mainland Europe was further compounded by political and cultural isolation in the first few decades after the foundation of the new Irish Free State in 19. Ireland remained neutral in the Second World War and, for the pre- and post-war generation of Irish architects, access to the Modern movement was often through self-exile, such as the Paris-based architect and designer Eileen Gray ( ), who was honoured with a major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou Paris this spring. Fast-forward to the early 1st century and a strong Irish architectural culture is being internationally recognized through publications, competitions and awards. Having won the inaugural World Architecture Award for Bocconi University Milan, Dublin-based Grafton Architects were also honoured with a Silver Lion at the 01 Venice Architecture Biennale for their exhibit, Architecture as New Geography. Following their competition success for a new university campus in Lima, Peru, Grafton Architects turned to the work of the Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha including his 1970s Serra Dourada Stadium for cues on how to build in the cultural, climatic and geographic territory of South America. Openness to influence is a starting point for any new project and a prerequisite for good architecture, explain practice founders Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell. This deep engagement with place is also evident in their forthcoming School of Economics in Toulouse (FR), which will inhale and exhale the fabric of this medieval city. It inhales to make a core and a heart. It exhales to connect to the spaces of the city, say Grafton Architects. Openness to influence is arguably the most recurrent theme in the work of Irish architects. This was evocatively shown in O Donnell + Tuomey s presentation, Vessel, at the Venice Biennale, which contained various influences, from the writings of Aldo Rossi and the poetry of Seamus Heaney to the intrinsic beauty of Japanese wooden spoons. Sheila O Donnell and John Tuomey previously worked at the studio of James Stirling, and the city of London can be cited as a further defining power. London is a city of brick, say ODT about their forthcoming brick sculpture, the Student Centre at the London School of Economics. Although the building is on a tight site, it acts as if freestanding, explains John Tuomey. A similar device was employed in their Photographers Gallery, where a single, tall roof window follows the visitor, Cyclops-like, through Soho s back streets. This skill of opening up connections between buildings dates to their regeneration of Dublin s Temple Bar district (as part of Group 91) FEDERICO BRUNETTI Bocconi University was conceived by Grafton Architects as a window to Milan, with the public space of the Aula Magna opening onto the street and providing glimpses of university life. Located at a crossroads between Soho and Oxford Street the Photographers Gallery occupies London s quieter back lanes. A north-light periscope window projects like a Cyclops eye or camera into the wider city skyline. and will have its next outing in Budapest, where the practice has won a competition to renew an inner-city university campus and re-establish its lost connection with the River Danube. Participation in international competitions is a key strategy for Irish practices, and Heneghen Peng Architects are masters of this. Founded in New York in 1999 by Róisin Heneghen and Shih-Fu Peng, it was an Irish competition for civic offices in Kildare that returned Heneghen to her native land in 001. The practice s successful entry for the Grand Egyptian Museum catapulted it almost overnight to international success. Heneghen Peng are currently on site with an art depot in Weimar (DE), the new Architecture School in Greenwich (UK) and the Museum of Palestinian Culture in Ramallah. Several of their projects, like the Giant s Causeway in Northern Ireland, are located on sensitive UNESCO World Heritage sites. The practice is finely tuned to working in these challenging settings and collaborating with international experts, including Arup and Buro Happold. When you are a young practice, you need to make up the deficit in experience by working with the best consultants you can get, explains Róisin Heneghen. Like Heneghen Peng, one of Ireland s most established practices, Scott Tallon Walker, is winning international work through strategic alliances and specialist expertise. Their international portfolio dates back to practice founder Michael Scott s seminal Irish Pavilion at the 199 New York World Fair. Today, much of the practice s work abroad is through knowledge transfer in specialist areas, such as health care, research and education, according to Scott s son, Niall. The practice is currently on site in Bahrain with a maternity hospital, and has recently won competitions for a 5G Research Centre in Surrey (UK) and the Proton Beam Therapy Centre at London s UCLH. Scott Tallon Walker have also designed for some of Ireland s most acclaimed artists, like the Paris studio of Louis Le Brocquy, and become art patrons themselves by commissioning sculptures and tapestries, including Gerda Fromel s evocative moving sails sculpture for the former Carrolls Factory in Dundalk. Collaborating with contemporary artists has also launched a young Dublin practice, A Architects, internationally. Having designed a flexible studio-cum-social-space for the Irish artist John Gerrard in Vienna (AT), the practice recently completed a site-specific pavilion for his video installation, Pulp Press, in Norway s Kistefos sculpture park. Situated on a site of great natural beauty, this restrained concrete pavilion focuses the view onto Gerrard s giant paper machine, whose presence once dominated this post-industrial site, while opening vistas to this Nordic landscape of fir trees and rivers. While it may be too early to describe a distinct Irish building style, it is the sensitivity of Irish architects to context and, as islanders, their openness to outside influence that has put them on the architectural map of Europe and the world. Global Ireland MARIE-LOUISE HALPENNY ROS KAVANAGH DENNIS GILBERT The Giant s Causeway Visitor Centre by Heneghen Peng is a carefully sculpted intervention into the ridgeline of the North Antrim coast, acting as the gateway to this UNESCO World Heritage site. Invisible from the cliff side yet recognizable from the land side, the architectural expression echoes the columnar landscape of the Causeway. Scott Tallon Walker Architects were influenced by Bauhaus theories of evolving space and cellular growth when devising the original Carroll s factory complex in The project was adapted into an educational campus for Dundalk Institute of Technology by the same practice in 011. A sculpture by Gerda Fromel forms an integral part of building and landscape. A10 # 5 Eurovision: Ireland Eurovision: Ireland A10 # 5

4 Architecture s green shoots TEXT: LISA CASSIDY Future Ireland In spite of the mass migration of young Irish architects and graduates in search of work, there are small shoots of hope appearing in the work of new, young practices who are working within economic constraints and finding supportive clients to bring projects to fruition. Long Life House, by Aoibheann Ní Mhearáin, demonstrates how much can be accomplished within such constraints. The project involves reconfiguring a typical 1970s semi-detached house in Dublin as a bright and open home, adapted to the resident family s needs. Aoibheann has previously worked with Grafton Architects, and as with the current generation of established practices, a sort of family tree continues between the best Irish practices, perhaps inheriting more in sensibility than in merely aesthetics. In the work of Steve Larkin Architects, there is clearly a simultaneous dedication to the poetic and to the practicalities of construction, the same tantalizing duality seen in the architecture of Larkin s former employers, Donaghy + Dimond (see Interview in A10 #10). The stark form of Larkin s rural project at Bog West (see A10 #7), in County Wexford, spatially contemporary and yet incorporating the timeless effect of zenithal lighting, won the RIAI s Best House award in the same year he was selected as Best Emerging Practice. The first Best Emerging Practice was Ryan W. Kennihan Architects (RWKA). Kennihan studied at Cornell University and moved to Ireland in 00, working with Boyd Cody Architects. RWKA s precise, crafted instinct can be seen in projects like the domestic extension to a historic Dublin house on Sallymount Terrace, which sets up a conversation between a wholly contemporary brick addition and the existing brick house. With Ireland 1 RYAN W. KENNIHAN SALLYMOUNT TERRACE HOUSE EXTENSION, DUBLIN This new extension to a historic house converses with the existing house via formal and material similarities. having one of Europe s highest home ownership rates, young practices like RKWA but also Lawrence and Long and ODKM are often cutting their teeth in extensions and adaptations of existing housing stock. This additive scale of work fosters an ability to working within constraints. In the houses by architect Andrew Clancy on a disused mountainside quarry in County Wicklow (see Interview in A10 #), one can see an extremely challenging site translated into generous homes by way of a bold, decisive formal move. In a more suburban setting, architect Cian Deegan has recently completed a new house that challenges the constructional orthodoxies of its neighbours with witty detailing that generates a satisfyingly complex but cosy domestic world. Young Irish architects are also working internationally, for instance, Andrew Griffin, a former partner at JDS in Copenhagen. Griffin recently returned to Dublin and formed a new collaborative studio called Urban Agency. The practice, which has dual locations in Copenhagen and Dublin, is working throughout Europe at scales ranging from domestic projects to entire masterplans. Architecture graduate Lucy Jones, also formerly of JDS, has recently completed her first project in Ireland: a domestic renovation and extension in the Dublin suburbs with a striking geometric roof in deep ash beams and structural glass, which draws upon the form of a fink truss. With so many of Ireland s young architects and graduates working internationally and some sure to return home, the future may offer unexpected new perspectives on familiar Irish contexts. In the meantime, there is ample talent in the practices that manage to take root in spite of the present challenges. ANDREW CLANCY QUARRY HOUSE, CO. WICKLOW Located on a steeply sloping mountain site in Wicklow, two conjoined houses are threaded through existing planting, touching the land lightly. Internally, the houses are warm and light-filled, knowingly referencing Scandinavian antecedents. ODKM ARCHITECTS ODKM 5 STEVE 6 AOIBHEANN LARKIN HOUSE AT BOG WEST, CO. WEXFORD This house sits within a walled former farmyard, carefully negotiating levels, privacy and orientation. NI MHEARÁIN + ANIMA GARDEN ROOM, DUBLIN The project involves reconfiguring a typical 1970s semi-detached house into a bright and open home. 8 STEPHEN ARCHITECTS HOUSE EXTENSION, DUBLIN Contemporary extension to a historic house in Ranelagh by the young practice ODKM Architects, which occupies a shop-front office. MULHALL SUBURBAN HOUSE EXTENSION Domestic remodelling by Stephen Mulhall, winner of ʻBest Emerging Practiceʼ in the 01 RIAI Irish Architecture Awards MARIE-LOUISE HALPENNY LAWRENCE 9 CIAN AND LONG ARCHITECTS ARTIST S STUDIO, SOUTH DUBLIN A 19th-century stone building in the garden of a large house has been adapted into an artist s studio in the tradition of the garden pavilion. LUCY JONES 7 LUCY JONES HOUSE EXTENSION, DUBLIN House extension by architectural graduate Lucy Jones, who previously worked with the international firm JDS. DEEGAN HOUSE, CO. DUBLIN Witty detailing in this new house challenges the constructional orthodoxies of its suburban neighbours. Future Ireland A10 # 5 Eurovision: Ireland Eurovision: Ireland A10 # 5 5

5 Alternative Ireland Other ways of practice TEXT: MICHAEL HAYES Like elsewhere in Europe, the industry of building in Ireland has suffered in recent years. Yet it seems that what the country now lacks in bricks and plasterboard has been replaced by a subtle, more intense, concentration, one that seeks to analyse perceived realities, critique former habits and practise fresh methodologies. Irish architectural culture is investigating alternative ways of practice. Commonage, a research and design organization based in Callan, County Kilkenny, has initiated projects that explore ideas towards local knowledge, participation and accessibility. For their 01 summer school, three projects focused on a seasonal bridge, designs for a system of public access gates, and a cowshed with a rainwater collection system. A comparable awareness for participation and place is tangible in the expanding sphere of dissemination. Since 009, darc space Dublin s dedicated architecture gallery has hosted exhibitions, talks, lectures, film nights, book launches and other events that promote a wider discussion within architecture. Equally, the Irish Architecture Foundation continues to communicate to a broad public audience through the success of Open House (a concept based on the long-running London event) and fresh ideas such as the recent Architects in Schools scheme. The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) is building platforms for engagement by taking architecture to new audiences, such as Ireland s National Ploughing Championships Europe s largest agricultural exhibition. The Institute also runs a major national fundraiser every year, which has raised over 50,000 euros for the Simon Community, a homeless charity, and resulted in nearly 5000 meetings between potential clients and architects, who offer a free consultation in lieu of a donation. An approach to making is also being reassessed. Architects such as Andrew Clancy and Sean Fogarty have expanded their practice to include lighting and furniture design. The influence of crowdsourcing in the design and manufacture of products is a growing trend, evident in the social design platform, FabAllThings, founded by architectural graduates and sisters Emer and Kate O Daly. Across the broad spectrum of research themes and methodologies, there is a common desire for an active engagement and sharing of ideas. Perhaps the most symptomatic development in this regard has been the recent establishment of the All Ireland Architecture Research Group (AIARG). Founded in 010, the group s annual conference (the second of which took place in 01) has quickly become a platform for presentation and exchange, with the added benefit of fostering a culture of research in architecture. The connection between architectural research and practice is intimately linked in Ireland, as many practitioners are actively engaged in research. The RIAI s Twenty10 Research competition (an initiative by the current RIAI President, Michelle Fagan) invited architects to identify solutions to the challenges facing Ireland s built environment in the aftermath of the economic crash. Similarly, the Kevin Kieran Award first given in 00 is a research prize bestowed by the Arts Council and OPW to support emerging practitioners, such as Grainne Hassett. Ten years on, and as recognition of the growing depth in this field among its members, the RIAI presented a new Research Award at the 01 Irish Architecture Awards for innovative projects like Orla Murphy s analysis of the contemporary Irish town and Dougal Sheridan s (LiD) investigation into the utilitarian beauty of the Irish landscape. This year s winner of the RIAI s Best Emerging Practice award, Stephen Mulhall, is an architect whose work spans different areas, from design and building to film-making, writing and research. It is encouraging to see this fresh energy within the Irish architectural discourse, wherein research and ideas are shared. 1 ʻRe-Mappingʼ the Midlands, winner in the RIAI ʻTwenty10ʼ research competition by Jeff Bolhuis, Miriam Delaney and Laurence Lord The Brookfield Youth and Community Centre in Tallaght by Grainne Hassett, a recipient of the Arts Council/OPW s Kevin Kiernan Award COMMONAGE, BRIAN CREGAN The Commonage Summer School explores the idea of building as a collaborative event. Held in the small market town of Callan, Co. Kilkenny, the 01 event brought together over 0 people from across Europe collaborating on projects which are firmly rooted in the community. Architect Andrew Clancy s practice has been extended to lighting design, such as ʻStrand Lampʼ. COMMONAGE, HENRIETTA WILLIAMS The Irish Architecture Foundation continues to influence a broad public audience through projects such as Open House Dublin, and through their architects in schools programmes, such as Place Shapers. Info Commonage involved a number of collaborative building workshops, including a new cowshed, led by the Cowshed Collective. Alternative Ireland Orla Murphy s analysis of the contemporary Irish town its origins, recent changes and future strategies was funded through the Kevin Kiernan Award by the Arts Council/OPW. TransColonia by Blaithin Quinn and Paul Quinn, winner in the RIAI ʻTwenty10ʼ research competition Dublin Architecture Space (darc space) was established in the offices of Denis Byrne Architects in the midst of Ireland s building crisis as a space for exhibitions, discussions, events and new ideas relating to Ireland s built environment. 6 A10 # 5 Eurovision: Ireland Eurovision: Ireland A10 # 5 7

6 Not Dublin Ireland PAUL TIERNEY Drive-through restaurant by Paul Dillon Architects, Galway City JOHN SHERIDAN Butterfly House by LiD Architecture, Co. Sligo F PHOTOGRAPHY ROS KAVANAGH ANDREW LEE MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN New village centre by Cox Power Architects, Kilmeena, Co. Mayo Wexford County Council by Robin Lee Architects, Wexford CHRISTIAN RICHTERS Dublin Dental Hospital by McCullough Mulvin, Lincoln Place ENDA CAVANAGH Flynn Mews House by Lorcan O Herlihy + ODOS, Pembroke Lane ROS KAVANAGH BOYD CODY PAUL TIERNEY ROS KAVANAGH Recasting by Donaghy + Dimond, Dundrum Ballyroan Library by Box Architecture Shangan Housing by FKL architects, Ballymun Dublin Ireland Crematorium by Magee Creedon Kearns, Cork Harbour 5,000 House by Dominic Stevens Architect, Leitrim Girls Primary School by Mary Laheen Architects, Crumlin House extension by Boyd Cody Architects, Clonskeagh Not Dublin / Dublin TEXT: LISA CASSIDY With a population of almost 1. million, Dublin is nearly ten times the size of the next-largest Irish city, but going by numbers would mean missing out on strong, contemporary work being made across Ireland s varied contexts. With the growth of schools of architecture in Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, in addition to the older two schools in Dublin, and a programme of capital investment in regional arts buildings and local government headquarters, such as Robin Lee s glass-wrapped complex for Wexford County Council, Ireland has benefited from a wide geographical distribution of work. The picturesque landscape offers potency to rural work, and Cox Power Architects recognized the fluidity of this context in their new village centre at Kilmeena, County Mayo, by modelling the sequence of fourteen houses and a community centre on the traditional clachan settlement a cluster of rural dwellings built close together at varying angles, surrounded by fields. A sense of informality can also be seen in the farmhouse addition by Donegal-based LiD Architecture in County Sligo, creating kitchen and living spaces to envelop the patterns of everyday family life as well as orienting to the landscape. Dominic Stevens, based in the super-rural County Leitrim, produced an architectural manifesto with the open-source 5,000 House, which demonstrates an alternative to Ireland s mortgage-dependent notion of housing as well as engages with how we live and build. On Rocky Island in Cork harbour, the Crematorium by Magee Creedon Kearns inhabits an 18th-century magazine fort to produce a robust, elemental sequence of spaces. Paul Dillon Architects took on the more prosaic but common condition of an edge-of-town roadscape in Galway city with a brief for mixed-use incorporating a drive-through restaurant. In Dublin, a 9th-century Viking settlement that has been built and rebuilt over a millennium, many of the best recent projects continue in the vein of architecture as addition. The most central is the Dublin Dental Hospital by McCullough Mulvin, inhabiting forgotten rooms in adjoining buildings at the edge of Trinity College. The project both emphasizes found features and makes contemporary insertions to structure and open the space. Mary Laheen s Scoil Mhuire Ogh extends an existing primary school in the south inner city, creating a tactile building in timber and concrete that uses openings to add to the richness of the interior and create a strong sense of place by a busy road. In parallel with the current programme of school construction across the country, the 01 post-primary schools competition run by the RIAI and the Department of Education and Skills fostered debate around the school brief from both the educational and architectural professions. One can hope the upcoming primary school competition encourages further consideration of contemporary typologies. On a central mews site, the Flynn Mews House by Los Angelesbased Lorcan O Herlihy, together with ODOS, incorporates the facade of a 19th-century coach house in a new residence that celebrates the site s history while also being deeply modern. In the suburb of Dundrum, Donaghy + Dimond Architects addition to a bungalow appears like concrete cast around the spaces of domestic life bright and finished with oak linings. While domestic extensions are modest in scale, they can afford potential for experimenting with materiality, as seen in the project by Boyd Cody Architects at Laburnum Road, given an otherworldly sheen by its satin anodized aluminium cladding, or with structure, as in FKL architects A-Rated House, based on a twisted concrete tube, or in their new Shangan housing project. Though working with the existing urban fabric is neither new nor unique to Dublin, this inherently contextual type of project encourages considered work, and the process of grafting and addition has been crucial to the city s continued recovery from decline since the early 1990s. This grafting extends even to the suburbs, as in Box Architecture's Ballyroan Library. Even with so few projects underway at present, this work makes a thoughtful, incremental contribution to the next iteration of the city. 8 A10 # 5 Eurovision: Ireland Eurovision: Ireland A10 # 5 9