WORKSHOP #5 - TWENTY FOUR SEVEN

Laura Harty & Aideen Lowery

Workshop Description:

twenty four seven aims to explore the idea of building without designing. The workshop will produce an installation/sculpture/object over a 24 hour period, creating and adding one part for every hour. The final product will be a complete object with 24 constituent parts, representing a period of construction. It is an experiment to build using only the limitations of time and material. The end result will not be pre-planned or drawn.

Engaging 24 different people and taking place over 24 distinct hours the process is intended to facilitate an individual reaction. The challenge is to appropriate a part or parts, in whatever way you see fit, but responding only to the piece created in the previous hour.

The project will be made from rescued firewood, a natural, irregular material inspiring individual treatment. The adjacent parts should fit together snugly, but not be fixed by any mechanical or chemical means. The piece will be constructed like a tapestry, knit or planted surface.

Our 24 hours will be spread over Tuesday & Thursday nights (beginning July 7th & ending July 23rd) between 6pm & 10pm.

Please email us at nowwhat.twentyfourseven (at) gmail.com and sign up for an hour!

nowwhattwentyfour(at) gmail.com

see also the twenty four (seven) blog here

About the Organisers:

Laura studied architecture in Dublin and Stockholm, graduating from UCD in 2005. She currently works with O’Donnell and Tuomey and was project architect for the Sean O’Casey Community Centre, completed September 2008.

Aideen studied architecture in Dublin and Stockholm, graduating from UCD in 2005. She has since been working with Heneghan Peng Architects in Dublin on various projects, and has just returned from travelling in South America.

WORKSHOP #1 - LEARNING SPACE

Emmett Scanlon & Deirdre McKenna

image: Hertzberger - Delft Montessori School

Workshop Description:

This workshop intends to investigate the social, economic, physical and architectural issues of the contemporary primary school in Ireland. Working from a specific school in Tallaght, West Dublin, with a specific population of children of 41 differing nationalities, a real client body and an engaging local community, the workshop will aim to make highly specific proposals for a new primary school for Tallaght. The school will provide for over 550 pupils and staff. By addressing the particularities of this school and its situation, the workshop aims to extend its considerations and positions from the specific out, in order to contribute to the much wider debate on the role of architecture in the provision of Irish schools.

This debate is not currently happening. At present, a majority of schools are procured and built via economically driven systems, systems which arguably cannot accommodate the social, cultural or local. Yet, as architects we must respond to critical concerns of economy through both organisation and construction; economy of space, of structure, of material and of energy. The challenge lies in how we might reconcile these concerns with a fundamental idea of architecture, that we are indelibly marked by the quality of the spaces in which we are educated.

Architects are best placed to lead this discussion, and we ask to you lead it.

The project has been sponsored by the School and by Roankabin. Funding will be available to further develop all or some of the projects into an exhibitable format or publication. Explorative methods of communication and representation will be encouraged.

The Primary School intend to have an exhibition of the work in late 2009.

The workshop is open to all. A school brief, site plan and site information will be provided, and the project will run for 6 weeks (between Monday July 6th and Friday August 15th) with some set outcome criteria. A loose format will allow weekly guests to discuss issues around school provision in Ireland, alongside issues of social structures in schools, integration and public engagement. A series of site visits will also run in parrallel; to the School, to community facilities in Tallaght and to several notable Irish schools.

Participants are invited to work as individuals or in pairs, but this must be specified on application.

learning space now have a blog

If you would like to apply for this workshop please contact the organisers at the following email address:

learningspaceworkshop (at) gmail.com

About the organisers:

Deirdre McKenna was born Belfast and studied architecture at Queen’s University Belfast and University College Dublin. She has worked in architecture practice in London , Dublin and Belfast . Her work has been exhibited nationally and was included in Lisbon Architecture Triennale, 2007. Since 2008 she has been a studio tutor at UCD.
Emmett Scanlon founded Cast Architecture with Sarah Cremin in 2006. He is architectural advisor to the arts council and is currently managing a research project into public engagement with architecture on their behalf. He is the Irish correspondent for A10 with Sarah Cremin. He has been teaching at UCD since 1999 and was appointed lecturer in architecture in 2006

WORKSHOP #16 - ON HOLD?

Roland Bosbach and Manuel Diez Garrido

Workshop Description:

Context

The unprecedented volume of construction in Dublin and the greater Dublin Area over the last decades is now facing an equally unprecedented period of negative growth. With the average vacancy rate of commercial properties reaching 20% and rising, many recent residential developments unfinished or vacant and the value of residential properties dropping by up to 40%, the oversupply of both the residential and commercial market is staggering. Incoherent development and planning decisions have created a patchwork of urban and suburban fragments, a city ON HOLD.

The implementation of NAMA, the new National Asset Management Agency, will amalgamate the vast majority of these fragments under one state authority, crossing traditional divides between the Local Authorities of the Greater Dublin Area and open up new opportunities to reconfigure, shrink, reprogram or connect.

With some developments predisposed for demolition similar to the phenomena of Shrinking Cities in Eastern Germany and Eastern Europe, other areas will be reinvigorated with both commercial and residential tenants on the move for cheaper and more central locations with proper access to infrastructure and services.

Task of the Workshop

The intention of the workshop is to find approaches to the various challenges and opportunities of these emerging dynamics. To find strategies that can help to positively influence and modify the urban fabric. The projects can range from urban studies, architectural interventions, feasibility studies for alternative uses, proposals for short term activism like “legal” squatting or marketing campaigns for threatened suburbia (get three houses for the price of one).

No. Participants

A maximum of 10-12 participants working in teams or as individuals.

Time frame and Workshop Structure

An initial introduction of the topic with a selection of short lectures by a variety of external advisors with different professional backgrounds ranging from Architecture, Urban Design to Property Valuation will be followed by a discussion to start the workshop.

Week 1 – Research and Strategies

Participants can then carry out research of their preferred context and develop strategies for a particular project and scale. The research and strategy development will be accompanied by daily reviews and discussions with the tutors and external advisers.

Week 2+3 – Project development

In the second and third week participants are asked to develop their projects further and prepare a short final presentation documenting their conclusions in an appropriate format for the scale and context of their project.

Ongoing – Dissemination and Market Testing

It will be encouraged to further develop the various strategies and find appropriate ways of communicating the ideas to the various stakeholders and the wider public with a view to test their potential for realization.

External Advisors:

Donal O’Donoghue, Valuer and Property Consultant

Pauline Byrne, Strategic Planning Officer, Treasury Holdings

Others to be confirmed

nowwhatonhold ( at ) gmail.com

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 #19 - SOUNDING BOXES

Steve Larkin and Daire Bracken

‘Sounding boxes’

Looking at the ‘sound’ of geometric configurations.

This project is examined in three parts.

1. Research

(i) boxes

Companion x, y and z space proportions are identified for study potential.

These proportions might be site specific or relate to a wider study specific.

These proportions are examined in the context of acoustic characteristics (pitch, timbre, resonance, decay etc) in order to identify and promote natural acoustic phenomenon.

These proportions form basis for architectural and musical exploration.

(ii) sound

Techniques for testing spatial acoustic characteristics are researched and considered.

This collection form the basis for the composed ‘sound ruler’ outlined below.

2. Implementation

(i) The collection of proportioned spaces are modeled (software or scaled) for testing.

(ii) A standardized ‘sound ruler’ is composed for spatial proportions and may use a synthesis of tones with consideration of (a) harmonicity and timbre in relation to proportion and (b) resonance in relation to proportion and scale.

3. Results

The proportioned space / acoustic characteristics are examined and the results form the basis for exploration.

Do comparative spatial proportions facilitate sonic phenomenon that translates to the acoustic or musical environment?

The spatial ‘sound ruler’ results form the basis for a series of miniature musical studies, which explore the potential for music composed for [based on] a space.

Can a consideration of sonic phenomenon [acoustic / musical] influence or enrich architecture or the process of making architecture?

Comparative spatial proportion and acoustic results form a basis for architectural exploration.

We would propose that the studies could be set up in a room in Richview. Spatial proportions and ‘sound ruler’ results are modeled and exploration is based on results.

Participants:

Model ‘spatial proportions’ and ‘sound ruler’ miniatures – Week 1

Results form basis for miniature architectural studies for interested participants – Week 2.

Dates:

17th – 28th August.

sounding boxes now have a blog

nowwhatsounding (at) gmail.com

About the Organisers:

Steve Larkin is a musician and architect. He studied Architecture at UCD, graduating 2002. He is a partner in StrandStudio, a shared studio for young architects in Dublin. He is a studio tutor in 5th year of the Dublin School of Architecture, DIT.

Daire Bracken - UCD B.Arch graduate 2002, musician, composer and recording engineer.

Donal Siggins is a composer from Dublin. His work in digital music has seen a particular interest in algorithmic composition including the use of multichannel sound spatialisation. His music will feature in the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival this autumn.

WORKSHOP #18 - FROM THE GROUND UP

Anne Gorman and Matt Shelton + Michelle Browne

Workshop Description:

It’s about Public Space!

Community Participation

Information and Consultation

“The Council recognises that people in communities have a right to a view on the planning and development of the areas in which they live and it is Council policy to facilitate people in examining that view. It is Council policy to build on the spirit of partnership so as to ensure real social development.”

Extract from DLRCoCo Development Plan 2004-2010 Section 8

The greatest power of ‘Public Space’ could be said to be in its expression of the
communal, which, in an ideal world, would be generated by the needs of the community it
reflects and which it ultimately serves.

Why now?
• There has existed within the body of the development plan for DLRCoCo the possibility for community based groups to engage with this framework and put forward proposals for re-generation in their areas. But the conscious focus to pull together these collective desires slipped from the agenda due to the galloping pace of the tiger. Now is the time, now that we have time, time to think, plan, get together to sift out this common ground.

So What now?
• Making direct links between the wider community and architects, we will explore the potential for defining public space in the DLRCoCo area.
• To engage people and communities in new ways with the future planning of their spaces that will be driven by their needs and interests, made visual by the Architect/community link, from the ground up.

Output:
• Strategies
• Proposals
• Installations

Gathering of interest now have a blog

contact:

nowwhatgathering (at) gmail.com

About the Organiser:
Anne G'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.

WORKSHOP #12 - THE IDEA OF A BUILDING

Stephen Tierney



Workshop Description:
There are very few killer images that really sell the essence of a project in one image. One slowly collects one’s impression of a scheme through plans, sections and concept models. However I would like to explore how best to create a truly rich image with layers of meaning and suggestion, using all the tools at our disposal to tell more about the fundamental ideas of a project. So expanding on Louis Kahn’s interest in the room as the starting point, this will mean concentrating on the creation of a single strong internal image.

Just as many photographers mimicked painting when the medium was first invented so it seems that much of visualisation continues to imitate architectural photography. Computer visualisation, for one, may have yet to find its own voice. The fact that most “pre-visualisation” is used to sell a project to either clients, planners or neighbours seems to have removed it from the architectural conversation that exists between designers, users, critics and architectural photographers.

We would look at 17th century Dutch interiors, photographers like Jeff Wall and Gursky, Films, Set design, Graphic design, Visualisation of the 19th Century (Joseph Gandy), Storyboarding etc.

The output would be one image in any media per person.

Examples of strong interiors
Media
Choosing a case study
Initial considerations


Light qualities
Meaning of light
Meaning of shadows
Weather, Atmosphere


Composition
Camera qualities (contrast, depth of field, key, format, focal length)
Suggestion, Narrative and Synecdoche


Colour - examples
Meaning of colour
Modelling


Material qualities
The real and the unreal
Textures


Image manipulation
Collage
Printing

nowwhatinterior (at) gmail.com

see also the Interior Prospect blog here

About the Organisers:
Stephen Tierney is a Dublin based Architect, with a background in History of Art, visualisation and furniture design. Having studies and worked in the UK, France and the US, in 2005 Stepehn established Tierney Haines architects with his partner, Nicola Haines. He is a 4th year studio tutor at UCD.

IRISH TIMES

Thanks to Frank McDonald for Saturday's mention in the Irish Times - see it here.

WORKSHOP #4 - THE SPIRIT OF GRACIOUS LIVING

Jo-Anne Butler & Tara Kennedy

“Gracious Asparagus”, Jo Anne Butler and Tara Kennedy, 2009

...FEW OPPORTUNITIES GENERATE THIS KIND OF DREAM

Workshop Description:

This workshop asks the question “What is the spirit of gracious living anyway?” More particularly the workshop will ask what has “gracious living” meant for the past 10 years and what might it mean in the future.

Along a busy stretch of dual carriageway in South County Dublin glossy hoarding announced a new apartment development. The advertisement images featured a woman with an asparagus tip speared daintily on her fork and the accompanying text made promises such as “few addresses generate this kind of dream’. Today the apartments are part inhabited and part un-finished, and a section of the hoarding still remains, proclaiming “the spirit of gracious living” to the passing traffic.

In 1971 Gordon Cullen in his book The Concise Townscape, wrote “A city is more than the sum of its inhabitants. It has the power to generate a surplus of amenity, which is one reason why people live in towns rather than isolation”. Dublin in the past ten years generated much surplus of amenity and privilege yet that growth has also left us with a legacy of isolation and future ruin. How do we and how can best share the surplus generated by cities? Recent years have spawned both a rash of gated communities and a trend for the collective sense of the co-operative shop and community gardens. This workshop will ask questions about the role of design and cultural production in the context of these very different aspirations for self-sufficiency. “What is the spirit of gracious living anyway?”

The project will be divided into the following components (open to debate, development and change with workshop participants)

1. Vox pop video and audio survey – asking the question “what is the spirit of gracious living anyway?” Use of basic video and audio editing.
2. Debate on the possible meanings of “gracious living”
3. Design and construction of structures to present survey findings including: a makeshift outdoor projector screen (Maybe in style of billboard or flatscreen TV); a structure for audio; a bookcase

nowwhatspirit(at) gmail.com

About the Organisers:
Jo-Anne Butler graduated from NCAD in 2005, with a degree in Fine Art Sculpture & History of Art & Design. After graduating, she worked with Breaking Ground, the Ballymun Regeneration percent for Art Scheme, while maintaining her own practice. In 2007, she began studying architecture at UCD, and from this, founded Culturstruction with Tara Kennedy
Tara Kennedy graduated from NCAD in 2005, with a degree in Fine Art Sculpture & History of Art & Design. After graduation, she established a practice working interactively, and often collaboratively in a variety of public art contexts. In 2007, she began studying architecture at UCD and from this, founded Culturstruction with Jo-Anne Butler. This is an exploration of how art can provoke critical debate around architecture, the built environment, and the ways in which meaning and memory are created through buildings and public spaces.

Application for Studio Space Date Extended

By request, we've extended the date to apply to use studio space over July & August at Richview to Fri 12 June.
Thanks to all who have already submitted - there are some interesting proposals and we'll be posting these here next week.
To apply to use studio space, submit a brief proposal on A4 size pdf/jpeg to us by 12th June.

Also, further details on the workshops will be uploaded here during next week. Each workshop will be run during July or August, and dates, times etc will be finalised in the coming weeks...watch this space!

WORKSHOP# 16 - PUBLIC SPACE MAPPING

Alan Mee

Georges St. Lower, Dun Laoghaire

Image: Tara Kennedy

Public Space Mapping has formed an urban research group to undertake an analysis of public space in Dun Laoghaire town centre this summer.

Researchers are Deirdre Greaney, Nuala Flood, Tara Kennedy, Conor O’Brien and Kevin Walsh.

Building on urban design theory and traditional mapping methods, the ‘Public Space Mapping’ group hope to develop new ways to map and evaluate public space. The group will draw, observe, map, photograph, record and analyse the space with a view to addressing this suburban centre’s civic life outside office hours. The outcome of this process is to compile a resource that imagines possibility and potential in this area, while stopping short of design proposals. The findings of the research will go towards a wider process of policy-led cultural development for this area as described in a document entitled ‘Creative Policies for the Creative City’, part of a GradCam EC-EAC Project.

Public Space Mapping will hold an event at UCD to introduce their ideas in the coming weeks, so watch this space…

About the Organiser:

Alan Mee is an architect working in urbanism, architecture and education. He operates a design practice, which responds to the increasing demand for organising systems and design quality in development. Current work ranges from large scale urban design and research to domestic architectural projects. He is also Director of the Urban Design Masters programme at University College Dublin.