now what ?

Wasteland Exhibition

The now what ? exhibition space is pleased to announce an exhibition by Dublin School of Architecture students and staff of their work concerning the Bolton Street Area.

All are welcome to the official launch which will take place on Monday 30th November at 6.30pm in Unit 14, Block C, Smithfield Plaza. It will be opened by the minister for the environment, John Gormley.
The exhibition is entitled 'Wasteland' and will run in the exhibition space at Unit 14, Block C, Smithfield Plaza from 23rd November - 11th December. (mon-fri 6.30pm-8.30pm, sat & sun 2.00pm-6.00pm). This is a comprehensive and engaging body of work, and will be well worth a visit.

The Dublin House Competition 17.10.09

DCC and now what ? hosted a one-day design competition in now what's exhibition space in Smithfield on 17.10.09...

17 teams of 3 participated.

The competition was open to all - students, graduates and practitioners....

Each team was given a site on Dominick Street, which was taken from the old georgian grain of the street.

The teams had from 10am until 4pm

To propose a new solution for housing in the city

Based on the georgian precedent, and to allow incremental development in the city.

Each team had to construct a model at 1:200 of their proposal.

The models had to be designed to sit together on the site model of the street, so each had one party wall, with one side left open to view the section.

The teams also had to produce hand drawings for presentation.

And finish up by 4pm.

When they each presented to the judges: Ali Grehan (DCC), Ciaran MacNamara (DCC), Ryan Kennihan & Denis Byrne

who then deliberated....

And chose the winners...

GKMP - Michael Pike & Grace Keeley

Jamie Conway, Cormac Nolan and Elizabeth Gaynor.

with second prize to

Gessica Cozi, Federico Scoponi and Luca Trufarelli

and special mentions to

Anna Cooke, David Healy, Ian Tracy and Lucy O'Reilley

and

Jo Flahive, Conchuir O hArgain and Ronan Murray

we'll post the winning projects on the blog tomorrow.....

(photos by Alice Clancy)

Evening Conversation #5

Monday 19 October, 7pm, Unit 14 Block C, Smithfield Plaza

17.10.09 - One - Day Design Competition

Saturday 17th October, 9.30am-5pm: One-Day Ideas Competition:

'the Dublin House'

Unit 14, Block C, Smithfield Plaza - 9.30-5.00

All are welcome to participate in a one day design competition in association with Dublin City Council.

It is open to architectural students, graduates, practitioners and all those interested in the design of housing in Dublin .

The competition has filled up fast, but there are a few places left - so to ensure a space, please email thedublinhouse (at) ymail.com to reserve a place and for further information.

The competition can be entered as an individual or as a group to a maximum of three members.

The competition will take place on a single day and the brief is to design ‘the Dublin house’ - a new housing typology suitable for infill sites in the historic Georgian city.

The site is on the west side of Lower Dominick Street , currently the site of a Dublin City Council social housing flat complex built in 1970.

Dublin City Council has identified the need to develop a new typology that respects the inherited grain and pattern of the city. This is a reaction to the poor design quality of many infill schemes, resulting in the loss of appropriate scale and grain where historic plots have been accumulated for development.

Lunch will be provided on the day by Dublin City Council, and now what ? will provide some wine to finish off what will hopefully be a great day!

now what? exhibition 9-20 October

now what? is pleased to announce an exhibition of the work carried out over the summer.

The exhibition reflects the multi-disciplinary interests of those involved and includes 1:1 construction, photography, paintings, a fully operating 'sound-box', architectural models, maps, furniture and films plus drawings, research and books. There will also be a number of events held open to all (see below).
It will be manned on a voluntary basis by those who were involved with the initiative so be sure to drop in.

dates: 09.10.09 – 20.10.09
location: Unit 14, Block C - Smithfield Plaza.
times: Weekdays: 4pm-9pm., Weekends: 12pm – 9pm.
contact: www.nowwhatrichview.blogspot.com, nowwhatrichview@ucd.ie

exhibition events:

Monday 12th October, 7pm : Formal Opening/Evening Conversation #4

The now what ? lecture series moves into the exhibition space for a discussion with three of the workshops that dealt with construction, its techniques, meanings & ramifications for architects.

Communicative Constructs, Cohesive Construction and Sounding Boxes will present on the night.

This is also the formal opening of the exhibition, and wine will be served from 7pm.

All are welcome to join us in launching the exhibition and celebrating all of the hard work...

Tuesday 13th October, 7pm: Reading Group discussion.

Now what read will hold a reading group/discussion in the space.

The reading is "Zoom: Google Earth and Global Intimacy" by Vittoria diPalma from Intimate Metropolis which she edited with Diana Periton et al, and is proposed by Dr. Hugh Campbell.

Places are limited to 10, so contact the reading group to secure your space.

nowwhatread (at) gmail.com

Saturday 17th October, 9.30am-5pm: One-Day Ideas Competition:

'the Dublin House'

All are welcome to participate in a one day design competition in association with Dublin City Council.

It is open to architectural students, graduates, practitioners and all those interested in the design of housing in Dublin .

The competition will take place on a single day and the brief is to design ‘the Dublin house’ - a new housing typology suitable for infill sites in the historic Georgian city.

The site is on the west side of Lower Dominick Street , currently the site of a Dublin City Council social housing flat complex built in 1970.

Places are limited, so to ensure a space, please email thedublinhouse (at) ymail.com to reserve a place and for further information. Places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

The competition can be entered as an individual or as a group to a maximum of three members.

Lunch will be provided on the day by Dublin City Council, and now what ? will provide some wine to finish off what will hopefully be a great day!

Monday 19th October, 7pm : Evening Conversation #5

The now what ? lecture series continues in the exhibition space.

On Hold, The Spirit of Gracious Living and Remaking the Suburbs workshops will discuss the issues they encountered in their workshops, development, its marketing, and the property market problems facing Ireland currently to common design issues within the design of the suburbs.

After this, the lectures will return to the Red Room UCD Architecture, Richivew @ 6pm every Monday.

Many thanks to:
Staff at the School of Architecture at Richview, University College Dublin who conceived and supported the initiative by providing studio space, library and building laboratory facilities over the summer months.
The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government who among others provided a welcome grant which has allowed the research and work undertaken to be publicly exhibited and disseminated.
The Irish Architecture Foundation, who were instrumental in securing the exhibition space,
Our sponsors, including Gerry Cahill Architects who helped along the way,
Dublin City Council Architect's Division who have supported and attended many of the now what events.
Sarah Breen Lovett, Antoin Doyle & Philip McGlade for helping to organise and set-up the exhibition and Nuala Flood, Micheal Lovett and Jack Murray of Media Express for helping with publicize the exhibition.

Chris Kelly of RedQuartz who donated the exhibition space

But most importantly, the initiative became a success through the hard work and dedication of all involved, and this work has had the effect of creating a positive and exciting atmosphere within the architecture and design community. We would like to thank those who got involved and brought so much energy and innovation to the workshops, public conversations & exhibition itself.

We are hopeful that the spirit of now what will engage the wider public and propose an alternative way to learn and collaborate in challenging times.

Exhibition update

The exhibition is almost ready!! We will add details, events etc to the blog later today..in the meantime, here are some images of the hard work that took place over the weekend.

It started at Richview.. with a hire truck and some volunteers

who perhaps didn't realise what they were getting themselves in for...laws of physics were bent to allow the exhibition to all fit in one truck...

and the show moved on to Smithfield, where yet more volunteers unloaded..

and brought the exhibition inside to its new home at Unit 14 Block C...

where it was installed (with coffee).....

hung...

painted....

and is now waiting.......until the 9th to open

(exhibition runs from 9-20 October, 4-9pm weekdays, 12-9pm weekends, further details to follow)

Thank you so much to everyone who helped over the weekend...it was a lot of hard work, and your efforts are appreciated...

Thanks particularly to Sarah Breen Lovett, Antoin Doyle and Philip McGlade for helping organize & design the exhibition, and

Thanks especially to the Irish Architecture Foundation who were instrumental in securing the space, and last but not least,

Thank you Chris Kelly of Redquartz for donating the space to us for the exhibition!!

Evening Conversation #3

Monday 05 October, 18.00pm, Red Room Richview

Next week, 3 workshops will present their work: Synthetic Landscapes, Public Space Mapping & Derive.

The three are related to mapping, landscape & public space.

Cohesive Construction - opportunities

The timbrel vault is nearing completion...there are opportunities to help complete it and learn the method of construction in the process..anyone who would like to give a few hours completing this beautiful piece of work, get in contact with cohesive through their blog

evening conversation #2

Monday 21 September, 6pm red room richview.

Francis Matthews and Laura Kelly from Interpretations of an Image and Stephen Tierney from The Interior Prospect will discuss their work, ideas and workshop.
Both workshops were related to the image and its creation.

Evening Conversations

The now what workshops will be hosting a series of public conversations on the work undertaken over the summer.
The conversations will take place every Monday at 18.00 in the Red Room, Richview.
Each conversation will include two workshops, who will present their work, with a discussion afterwards.

The first of these will be on Monday 14 September, 18.00 in the Red Room at Richview.
First, will be an introduction to now what, and what took place over the summer, then Fab_Lab will talk about their workshop...see you all there!

Cohesive Construction

Check out Cohesive Construction's progress here... laying of the dome is about to commence!

Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap is initiated by Michelle Browne who is involved in the 'Ground Up' workshop. Check out details below of the project which is taking place this week as part of the Fringe Festival.

Mind The Gap is a collaborative public art project initiated by Michelle Browne to work with artists, designers, architects and planners to look at open spaces in the city and consider new uses for them. Over the course of two months the group have explored areas across Dublin city considering how we can re-imagine our civic society. Throughout Absolut Fringe we will present a range of interventions that will inform and delight. The project is based at thisisnotashop on Benburb Street Dublin 7 where you can get information and contribute to our exhibition of ideas for the city.

Mind The Gap is an Absolut Fringe Commission.

Participants: Michelle Browne, Siobhan Carroll, Carolann Courtney, Mark Durkan, John Holten, Colm Keller, Issac Lawless, Bryan O’Connell, Jeni Roddy, Naomi Ronan, Tom Walsh, Chong Wang.
SEPT 5th - 4.30pm

Utopian Bus Tour – A guided tour through
Dublin with a difference. Drawing on unrealised
proposals for the city and imagining new uses
for vacant spaces, the Utopian Bus Tour will
guide you through an alternative vision for the
city. Leaves from Smithfield Square.

SEPT 12th + 19th 8-11pm
Don’t Quote Me – Projected on the outside
of the iconic Screen cinema, Mind The Gap
looks to the silver screen to investigate
Dublin’s current dilemmas. The city, planning,
corruption, and the fall of a nation are explored
through the history of cinema.
SEPT 7th -12th

Fare Play? – Taking off in a taxi from Foster
Place, Mind The Gap will offer you a chance
to learn about NAMA while visiting the sites
of the nation’s current big question. Informed
taxi drivers will explain the workings of NAMA
and show you where it will all happen. Various
times, limited space, booking essential. Email
for details.

SEPT 11th + 18th 6pm - 6.30pm

Operetta – A lone performer looks out over the
city and sings a lament to its citizens. Mind The
Gap presents a solo operatic performance on
Foster Place of arias that highlight the current
plight of the city and its uncertain future.
SEPT 19th 12pm - 3pm

Flower Show – Following from the tradition of
competitive window box competitions in the
Smithfield area, Mind The Gap offer you the
chance to come to Smithfield Plaza and design
your own flower box display to be adjudicated
by Lord Ross of Birr Castle, Father to Lord
Oxmantown. Take this opportunity to bring plant
life to the plaza.

SEPT 20th 3pm

The Big Freeze – Goethe famously said
“architecture is frozen music.” Taking
inspiration from the architecture of Smithfield
Plaza, a brass band will perform The Ride of
The Valkyries by Wagner. This collaborative
performance highlights the
peaks and troughs of Smithfield Square
as a public space.

Ongoing
Public Seating – Mind the Gap will provide
alternative public seating in the city for
visitors and commuters over the course of
Absolut Fringe. Seating will be provided on
Aungier Street, Hawkins Street and other
city centre locations

Sunken Site – Hammond Lane – A series
of visual proposals will be presented for an
unused site on Hammond Lane and Church
Street. A collection of proposals taken from
an open call from designers and architects
explore the possibilities of the disused spaces
in the city.

Thisisnotashop – The hub of the Mind The Gap
operation, the gallery will host an exhibition of
ideas for the city. Inspired by the urban myth
that Santiago Calatrava designed the James
Joyce bridge on the back of a napkin, we invite
you, the viewer, to present your ideas for the
city of an ever-expanding array of napkins.
The gallery will also host The Smithfield
Archive presenting the history of the area and
unrealised proposals for its regeneration.

Watch out for other surprise events on our blog!

Contact us at

mindthegapdublincity@gmail.com,
www.Mindthegapdublincity.blogspot.com

Fringe Box Office
Filmbase, Curved St., Dublin 2
call: 1850 FRINGE
www.fringefest.com

Thisisnotashop
26 Benburb St, Dublin 7.
www.thisisnotashop.com

Thank you!

Thanks everyone for turning out last night, it was a good party!

The work carried out over the summer went down really well...thank you all for the energy and committment that brought each workshop in its own direction and produced such thought-provoking and diverse research.
Keep sending us in images of the work in progress - nowwhatrichview(at)yahoo.co.uk

We're looking forward to bringing all of the summer's hard work into Smithfield in October...keep an eye on the blog for updates...
There will of course be another party in October!

The burning of a crane by Blathmhac O Muiri of the Monument Time Workshop added a suitably ceremonial note to the occasion.

Now What Party Tonight!!!

now what ? closing night 28.08.09, Richview, UCD, 7 p.m.

come early as we have to leave before 9:30pm!

you are invited to the closing night of now what ? workshops and summer studios in Richview, UCD on 28th August 09 beginning at 7 p.m. There will be a wine reception, food, music and a chance to meet everyone who got involved this summer and see some of the work carried out

Thanks to all for the brilliant work carried out over the summer and see you there!

Soundbox Gig Tonight!!

This Wednesday the 26th of August will be a great gig at 8pm at the Twisted Pepper, Middle Abbey street. The line-up includes HI-JINX, NIALL COLFER, THE THIRD TWIN and members of ELECTRIC CEILI.

All proceeds of the event go towards the sounding boxes workshop which is building an installation exploring sound in architecture.

For more details see the sounding boxes blog here and you can rsvp on the facebook event page here.

See you there!

Workshop # 17 On Hold - Presentation Tonight!

Wednesday 26 August, 6.00-8.00pm, Red Room, Richview

On Hold are sharing the research undertaken by them in a Red Room session.

This promises to be an interesting evening, as the group have been questioning Dublin's approach to property and development, and topics covered on the night will range from NAMA to retro-fitting. They have a blog for further information.
Each participant will present their research and take questions from the floor.

All are welcome!!

(and don't forget to come along to the soundbox gig in the twisted pepper afterwards!)

nowwhatonhold ( at ) gmail.com

The Workshop

A deflated property market along with incoherent development and planning decisions in Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area have created a patchwork of vacant, unfinished and defunct urban and suburban fragments, a city ON HOLD. The workshop promotes a multidisciplinary approach to the various challenges and opportunities of these fragments and intends to find strategies between shrinking and growing that involve the various stakeholders and positively influence and modify the future development of a city on hold.

About the Organisers:

Roland Bosbach was born in Germany in 1970. Studied at TU Dresden. Set up BSPL in Dublin in 1999 and published 'Anonmag' with Ronan Devlin. He had previously worked in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and left in 2004 to work in China on a range of large scale commercial and housing projects. He has extensive experience in the fields of Housing, Urban design and Landscape design and won numerous awards for housing and urban design projects. Roland has also tutored at the schools of Architecture at DIT and UCD. He is currently working with Denis Byrne Architects as the Project Director on the competition winning scheme for the new Networks Services Centre for Bord Gais Networks in Finglas Dublin.

Manuel Diez Garrido is an Urbanist with a Degree in Civil Engineering, a Masters in Urban Design and a Postgraduate Diploma in Mobility Engineering with fourteen years experience in the design and development of urbanism and engineering projects within multidisciplinary groups. He has worked in Spain, South America and Ireland, set up Urban Fabric in 2008 and is currently working on the masterplan for the Town Centre Extension of Celbridge, Co. Kildare.

WORKSHOP #10 - 1989-2009 MONUMENT TIME

Scale Architects in collaboration with Brian Ward & Gary Farrelly

Image by Gary Farrelly

Workshop Timetable and Public Lectures:

Monday 24th: 5.30-8.00pm: Red Room, Richview
Public lecture + Q&A by ScAle Architects and Sean Hillen.

8.00pm: introduction to the final project: creation of the country's missing monument.

Tuesday 25th: 5.30-8.00pm: Red Room Richview
Public lecture +Q&A by Gary Farrelly, Brian ward, Ide Moloney,

8.00pm: discussion on the final project.

Thursday 27th: 5.30-8.00pm: Red Room, Richview.
Presentation + crits of all the projects created by the participants and the lecturers.

Workshop Description:

This is an idea to investigate the "monumental" output of Ireland in the last twenty years.

What sort of iconic constructions / symbolic structures / landmark buildings or in one word Monuments (to the economy, communication, politic, religion, sport...) were produced from the collapse of the Eastern Block to the current Credit Crunch?

The project should be divided into three parts:

a) Survey/Analysis/Evaluation of the artefacts erected on the Republic of Ireland, which could be regarded as monuments.

b) Discussion/debate on the meaning, the value and the existence of the monuments in the ROI. Do we have them? Do we need them?

In the "transparent democratic networking era" do we still need significant physical piece of "hardware" to appear in our towns?

c) Proposals for construction/destruction/recalibration of the XXI century monument.

Should the political power invest tax-payer money for the creation of a self-referential symbol? Should the economy be reinvigorated by a Bilbao-like international attraction? Should the architect be the one who materializes the current collective imagination?...

more info to follow.

nowwhatmonument (at) gmail.com

About the Organisers:
Maurizio Scalera B.Arch, MRIAI italian architect graduated from University of Florence, Italy, in 2000. Lives and works in Dublin since 2002. He has been working with De Paor Architects, Grafton Architects, OMP Architects. Currently teaching in Design Studio, First Year, School of Architecture, DIT, Dublin. Co-founder of ScAle architects, since 2001.
Benedetta Alessi B.Arch, graduated from UCD Dublin in 2004. She has been working with Simon Walker Architects and Palmer Whelan Associates. Co-founder of ScAle architects, since 2001. Has been involved in several Art/Architecture collaborations and exhibitions in Ireland.

Brian Ward year-master, first year, School of Architecture, DIT, Dublin.
Gary Farrelly resident artist at Galerie W Eric Landau, 44 rue Lepic Paris 18.

Workshop #18 From the Ground Up

Update!

The Gathering of Interest workshop have sent us some pictures of the installation they made on site on the only sunny day last week.... They attracted a lot of positive responses - well done to Anne, Matt, Michelle and all the participants.....For further information, have a look at their blog

Images by Catherine Gorman

About the Organiser:
Anne Gorman's early interest in drawing and making things has led her to study construction/technology and architecture in DIT and then UCD. She set up her own practice Agarc in 2008 where she gets to indulge her interest in the on-site process. She is a part-time studio and technology tutor in UCD's middle school.

Matt Shelton is a graduate of the School of Architecture UCD. He currently works in Dublin with Gerry Cahill Architects.

Michelle Browne is a performance artist and graduate of NCAD. She is currently organising a public space initiative ‘Mind The Gap’ project as part of the Fringe Festival. See her website here.

contact:

nowwhatgathering (at) gmail.com

WORKSHOP #6 - FLIPSIDE

Update!

The Flipside crew have been hard at work making some very interesting and beautiful pieces - below are some examples of the outcome of their workshop.

Congratulations to Ciara Keohane, Nuala Flood, Roisin Ahern, Clare McEvoy, Paul Quinn and Seoidin O'Sullivan on such great work.

Workshop Description:
We are interested in the reinterpretation of a given condition. Existing objects with recognised uses are re-evaluated. Objects with disparate uses are combined and used in a new way. Focusing on the reuse /recycling of furniture and domestic objects we aim to create a workshop to develop these ideas and test them in full scale.

contact: nowwhatflipside (at) gmail.com

About the Organisers:
Nuala Flood is an architect who lives and works in Dublin.
Ciara Keohane is an architect who loves fancy dress and would much rather go to the beach than draw toilet layouts on any given day