The living and lost heritage of Clonfert

Dr Christy Cunniffe

Time, 15.00pm, Duration approx.1.5 hours

Date(s) Saturday 07 October, 2023

Location, Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert, Co.Galway H53 W8X0

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Summary

“Paper Maps to Photogrammetry different approaches to recording the living and lost heritage of Clonfert” with Dr Christy Cunniffe.

About

This presentation will look at various ways that the Built, Archaeological and Landscape Heritage of Clonfert has been explored and recorded over the years. This will include techniques from simple sketches from memory of the grounds and gardens to dedicated geophysical survey of the broader landscape, to a measured drawn survey of Clonfert Romanesque Doorway. It will look at how digital modelling can enhance our understanding of a place. It will also raise the question for open debate as to how we should use that digital technology to plan for the long term conservation of the Romanesque Doorway.  

Supported by; Galway County Council

The Moy Catchment Area Geodesign Project

Date: Friday 06 October

Time: 19:00, Duration 1h.

Location: The Coach House at the Mary Robinson Centre, Ballina 

Summary

In the context of the Global Climate Geodesign Challenge, more than 50 local groups worldwide will collaboratively employ shared methods and tools to create climate-oriented actions. An Irish team, including University College Dublin, Mayo County Council, and stakeholders, will envision a sustainable future for the Moy Catchment area using geospatial tools.

This event is FREE and open to the public. There is no booking required, but places are limited and will operate on a first come first serve basis. 

Event Organiser University College Dublin

About

How can we collaboratively create climate-oriented design actions, organize them into various alternative design scenarios, assess their impacts on carbon emissions and sequestration, and negotiate the final design among the public and decision-makers? 

More than 50 local groups from around the world have actively joined the Global Climate Geodesign Challenge, embarking on the creation of local designs guided by a shared framework that combines sketching methods, numerical analysis, and consensus-based decision-making. Initiated by the International Geodesign collaboration, this project brings together local authorities, researchers, and communities. They will collaboratively work to design climate action interventions with the aim of significantly reducing emissions and enhancing carbon sinks by 2050, thereby reversing atmospheric carbon accumulation.

University College Dublin is currently in the process of creating a local interest group as part of this initiative. The team includes Mayo County Council, master's students in Architecture, and a range of stakeholders. Together, they will proactively tackle climate change, pooling their expertise to construct a strategic vision for the Moy Catchment Area. Geodesign methods, geospatial modelling and map-based tools will be used to support group work and collaborative tasks.

The Mary Robinson Centre is a Centre for Change - a focal point for schools, the Irish public and for tourists to see and understand Mary’s legacy, located in Ballina, Co. Mayo in the childhood home of the former President. It will address the key themes and issues of Mary Robinson’s legacy as an influential world leader from the West of Ireland, including climate change, human rights, equality and women in leadership.

A Fragile Correspondence – Scotland + Venice 

Date: Friday 06 October 2023

Time: 18.00 - 20.00

Location: The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid ln.

FREE but prebook is essential as spaces are limited

Note: As spaces are limited, once the eventbrite fills up we encourage those interested to join a waitlist by emailing info@architectureattheedge.com. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can give the spot to someone else

Event Summary

A very special presentation of A Fragile Correspondence, Scotland's exhibition at the 2023 Venice Biennale.

Organiser Architecture Fringe

About

A Fragile Correspondence is Scotland’s national contribution to this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. 

From the forests around Loch Ness, to the seashore of the Orkney archipelago and the industrialised remnants of the Ravenscraig steelworks, A Fragile Correspondence takes us on a journey through three Scottish landscapes; the Highlands, Islands and Lowlands. Highlighting cultures and languages that have a close affinity with the landscapes of Scotland, the work explores alternative perspectives and new approaches to the challenges of the worldwide climate emergency.  In response to Architecture At The Edge’s provocation of Re-Mapping, the curators of A Fragile Correspondence will present ideas on how we might deepen our correspondence with these landscapes, to renegotiate our perceptions of language, land and place. 

Presented by co-curators Aoife Bláithnaid Nolan, Mia Pinder Hussein, and Andy Summers 

Aoife Bláithnaid Nolan, Co-Curator Scotland + Venice  
Aoife Bláithnaid Nolan is Editor-in-Chief and Founder of -ism architecture magazine. Her background in art and architecture has fed a continuous interest in language, tradition and architecture that responds to culture and climate. These are interrelated and isolated through her affection for designing, writing and graphical play.  

-ism magazine 
-ism is an independent architecture magazine that celebrates bold and critical reflections on the discipline. Initially established in 2019 during the Architecture Fringe, -ism most recently launched its fourth issue on the theme Land. With each launch, the magazine holds a discussion-centred event that invites relevant speakers to address the themes being explored while simultaneously celebrating the work of contributors through a self-curated exhibition. The nutrition of collaboration is central to the publication’s ethos.  
 
Mia Pinder Hussein, Co-Curator Scotland + Venice  
Mia Pinder Hussein (she/her) is a Co-Founder of /other. Through exploring the relationship between architecture, the arts and critical texts, her work seeks to challenge current architectural norms in both education and practice, centering the identities and cultures of those often pushed to the periphery.  

/other 
/other is a collective of POC creatives that started in 2019. Placed at the intersection of critical research and a contemporary culture of diverse expression, /other centres the marginalised individual within architectural discourse. /other considers itself a collective whose limits are in flux by constantly reaching out to its growing network of collaborators - peers, architects and creatives - in order to amplify the voices of the many. 
 
Andy Summers, Co-Curator Scotland + Venice 
Andy Summers (he/him) is a Glasgow-based architect, educator, curator, and public programmer specialising in architecture and the built environment. He is interested in developing and contributing to a pluralised, progressive culture of architecture which seeks to support a just common good. His work questions and explores the conditions within which architectural cultures emerge, often challenging existing structures and cultural norms. Andy is a Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Architecture Fringe, a Studio Tutor at the Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, and Co-Pilot for Stage 4 Architecture at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art.  

Architecture Fringe 
Founded in 2015, the Architecture Fringe is a self-initiated non-profit volunteer run organisation which explores architecture and its impact within our collective public life. Initiating and supporting a counter-culture, the Architecture Fringe seeks to pluralise architectural culture in Scotland and further afield. 

The Core Programme for the Architecture at the Edge Festival 2023 has been made possible through support from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Presentation by Conor O’Dowd, CEO Port Of Galway.

The Galway Harbour Project represents a once-in-a generation opportunity to develop a new and sustainable urban quarter in Galway city. Together with the proposed Port extension, there is an opportunity to expand our City to the water’s edge, future proof the port as a transport and renewable energy hub and support employment in the short, medium and long term. 

Central to the vision is a transformative public realm strategy which pledges to give the people of Galway a renewed sense of place by delivering approximately 22,300 sq metres (5.5 acres) of new public spaces for the city and repurposing the Inner Dock basin for marine recreation.

The Plan also aims to deliver:

• a sustainable mixed-use urban quarter; 

• the development of a cultural space on the iconic Centre Pier site;

• a realignment of the city to the sea.

About the speaker;

Conor was appointed as CEO at the Port of Galway in November 2018. A Chartered Accountant, Conor worked with KPMG in their Dublin and Galway offices prior to joining the Port.

As CEO, Conor is responsible for managing the Port’s day to day operating activities and for implementing the Port’s strategic objectives. These objectives include the proposed new Port and the inner dock regeneration project which will be facilitated by the relocated and expanded new Port facility. Conor also has responsibility for the Port’s efforts to play a key role in the renewable energy transition in the short, medium and long term.

Conor is a past President of Galway Chamber of Commerce and a founding and current director of the Galway City Innovation District (“ the GCID”). The GCID is the company responsible for the PorterShed innovation hub in the heart of Galway City.

Holy Trinity Church Errislannan

‘A shared and sustainable future for Holy Trinity Church, Errislannan’.

Date: Thursday 05 October

Time: 12pm

Location Holy Trinity Church, Drinagh, Errislannan, Co. Galway

Gravel car park, accessible throughout ground floor. etc.

Summary

Visit Holy Trinity Church in Errislannan for a short tour and talk about its future.

Guides Niamh Lunny, Irish Landmark Trust, Andrew Higginson and Willie Cumming

This event is FREE and open to the public. There is no booking required, but as places are limited it is advised.

Irish Landmark Trust is an all-island organisation working to save, share and sustain our unique built heritage. ILT and local community stakeholders at Holy Trinity Church are looking at how they will develop the shared future of the building. This is a new partnership for both organisations, both wish to see the building preserved and recognise the power of collaboration in achieving this. ILT will seek to regenerate the building as a short term holiday let, using best practice solutions for sustainability and energy efficiency in heritage buildings, whilst also making it available to the community for occasional services. The aspiration for both organisations is to give the building a viable, sustainable long term future.

A short tour of the church will followed by a discussion about the future of Holy Trinity Church with Willie Cumming, retired Architect and Chair of the Property Committee of ILT, Andrew Higginson, Holy Trinity Church community member and Niamh Lunny CEO of ILT.

Event Organiser: Irish Landmark Trust & The Friends of St Flannan’s

Uncertain Futures: Ireland's Maritime Heritage with;

Dr. Elizabeth Shotton

Dr. Noel Wilkins

Time 17:00pm – 18:00pm

Date(s) Wednesday 04 October, 2023

Location The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane, Galway H91 N5X9 

FREE but prebook is advised as places are limited

About

Ireland's coastal infrastructure of piers and quays

A presentation on Ireland's Maritime Heritage its past and future with speakers;

Elizabeth Shotton teaches construction technology and design at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy. Her research interests focus on the sustainable use of material resources through advances in materials, construction technologies and design processes. She is currently leading a study on Ireland's Minor Harbours, examining the evolution of maritime engineering in small harbours along the coast of Ireland from the seventeenth century to the present.

Noel Wilkins is a retired Professor of Zoology of NUI Galway, where he studied and carried out research on fish and shellfish. Before that, he had spent ten years in the Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, Scotland, working on fish and fisheries. He has travelled widely and lectured in many countries, and is the author of ten books. Two of these – the biography of Alexander Nimmo and Humble Works for Humble People deal with piers and harbours, especially those of County Galway and other western counties. He is currently working on another book on Irish fisheries research. He is author of 'Humble Works for Humble People: A History of the Fishery Piers of County Galway and North Clare, 1800–1922' - an extensive illustrated history of fishery piers along the coasts of Galway and North Clare, based on the original archives from the Office of Public Works and 'Alexander Nimmo, Master Engineer, 1783-1832: Public Works and Civil Surveys', (@merrion_press).

Supported by Patrick McCabe Architects

Patrick McCabe | B.Arch, FRIAI, RIBA, Grade 2 Conservation Architect, was instigator and chairman of Open House Galway, The West of Ireland Architectural Festival, and former chairman of the Western Group of Architects.

Hailing from Dublin, Patrick graduated in architecture from UCD in 1984. Having worked in London, he then became design director of a prominent practice in Galway, steering it to substantial growth and receiving multiple awards along the way.

He founded Patrick McCabe Architects in 2013, with a mission to make architecture that works, and now feels lucky to be able to concentrate on what he loves best—the contemporary home.

Patrick died suddenly in June 2021and sadly missed by his beloved wife of 35 years, Sarah Kelly, their children Barry, Grace and Cillian, the extended McCabe and Kelly family and also by his colleagues and friends in Architecture, Construction and sport in Galway, Mayo, Dublin and beyond.

The Map

Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon

Time: 12:00pm – 1pm and 2-4pm

Date: Wednesday 04 October, 2023

Location: The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane, Galway H91 N5X9

FREE but prebook is essential

Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon will give a visual presentation and talk on their monumental textile sculpture, ‘The Map’.  The artists will discuss cartography, memory, materiality, and the collaborative process by which they developed their concept of ‘The Map’; originally commissioned for The Magdalene Series by Rua Red Dublin, and on show until October 29th 2023 at the EVA International art biennial in Limerick. 

Following their presentation of ‘The Map’ Fallon and Maher will conduct a 2 hour workshop utilising simple collage and drawing techniques.  During this time the artists will provide an opportunity for participants to engage with the concept of map making through dialogue, image-making, and collective processes experienced through the lens of art practice and the unbound imagination. 

Note: Spots are limited, once the eventbrite fills up we encourage those interested to join a waitlist by emailing info@architectureattheedge.com. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can give the spot to someone else.

Coastal Imaginaries : How to live with water

- lecture on the Danish Pavillion from Venice Biennial x 2023

Josephine Michau

Date:  Tuesday 03 October  

Time: 17:00pm – 18:00pm

Location: The Mick Lally Theatre

FREE but prebook is advised

Note: Spots are limited, once the eventbrite fills up we encourage those interested to join a waitlist by emailing info@architectureattheedge.com. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can give the spot to someone else.

Summary

Presentation of "Coastal Imaginaries" the Danish pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, by the architect and curator, Josephine Michau. 

About

Josephine Michau, curator of the Danish contribution, calls Coastal Imaginaries “a laboratory for hope in a world of viral hopelessness” 

Coastal Imaginaries is a dramatic narrative that through future scenarios show how the Copenhagen coastline might evolve if we employ nature-based solutions. With a combination of speculative scenography and displays of novel research projects, the exhibition invites the audience to explore the fragility and beauty of the coastal landscape.

As a laboratory of hope in the midst of universal hopelessness, Coastal Imaginaries offers a catalogue of proposals for a coastal future grounded in nature-based and sustainable solutions. Visitors at the Danish Pavilion will therefore gain insight into concrete principles for how we can adapt to the rising sea levels and ever more frequent storm floods caused by climate change, which will dramatically change our coastal landscapes this century.

Josephine Michau has a master’s degree in business administration and philosophy and is co-founder and CEO of  Copenhagen Architecture Festival (CAFx). Since 2014, CAFx has communicated architecture and urbanism to the public through a program of 100-200 annual activities. In 2015 the festival received a prize from the Danish Architecture Association for its ability “…to think about the communication of architecture, highlight its qualities and diversity, and create relevant debate”

In 2019, Josephine Michau received the Henning Larsen Foundation Award for “…her tireless and fascinating commitment to understanding, communicating and engaging people in the landscape of architecture in our lives …”

In the context of CAFx she has initiated and co-authored several articles, publications and film productions + conducted yearly workshops on film and architecture since 2016.

Zoë will be delivering an online lecture as part of the film + architecture workshop on Monday 02 October at 2pm. Whilst this is event is designed to inform the workshop participants, anyone with an interest in progressive future for architecture is welcome to join the audience in the Mick Lally Theatre for this event!

Zoë Berman is an architect, university lecturer and founder of Part W – an action group founded in 2018 that campaigns for gender equality across the built environment sector.

Part W is driven by a desire to see places and spaces designed and delivered in a manner that is fair and beneficial to all. In 2019, the group launched a campaign raising awareness of the disparity in global architecture prizes, which are disproportionately awarded to male designers. That campaign led to a key moment of change, and featured in press including The Guardian, The Observer and Dezeen. Zoë has been a guest on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and lectured extensively on design and equity, and has written for the RIBA Journal, Blueprint magazine and Architecture Today. Zoë is writing a book profiling women who are shaping the design of cities.

Part W launched their Women's Work mapping project on International Women's Day 2022, encouraging others to highlight projects individually and collectively designed, built and influenced by women. The resulting map won the won the inaugural Prize for Research in Gender and Architecture 2023. Zoë will be talking about why Part W launched this project, and why highlighting a diversity of built projects is of value for practitioners and future generations.

Zoë is director of Studio Berman, which operates as a network of designers, makers and engineers who work collaboratively on a project-by-project basis, on installations and cultural and educational projects. She advocates design as a tool to engender positive social, political and economic change.

Re-imagining a Line (in search of the Esker Riada)

Joe Laverty, Aidan O’Neill and Ruby Wallis

Date(s)/ Time

Walk 13:00pm – 14:30pm, Monday 02 September, 2023

Meeting, carpark, Church of the Annunciation, Main Street, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway H91 HW58

Exhibition, 11am -6pm, 29th September – 08 October 

Location Festival Printworks Gallery, 15 Market Street, Galway Behind PorterShed a Dó.

Joe, Aidan and Ruby will also be delivering an artists talk in the Festival Printworks Gallery on 2nd Oct at 5pm.

About

The Esker Riada / An Slí Mhór – is an ancient route, East-West, across the centre of Ireland, loosely following the geographical Eskers that were deposited from glacial riverbeds at the end of the last ice-age. Following the route mapped out by Hermann Geissel in his book: A Road on the Long Ridge, photographic artists Joe Laverty, Ruby Wallis and Aidan O'Neill have walked a section of the route, seeking to re-imagine the line across the map by paying close attention to the geological materiality of the land, exploring a multiplicity of possible meanings and layers.

Encountering this path is to find sites of social and political trauma, dereliction but also connection and belonging. Following Geissel’s meticulous maps, the artists will visually excavate hidden and buried signs of the ancient path, and explore its intersections with the contemporary, including the M6 motorway that criss-crosses the old road.

Event

Walk & photograph the final section of the Esker Riada / an Slí Mhór with the artists Joe Laverty, Ruby Wallis & Aidan O'Neill - departs from Clarinbridge on Monday 02nd Oct at 1pm.

This event is FREE and open to the public. There is no booking required, but places are limited and will operate on a first come first serve basis. 

PLACE & PLATE

Jeni Glasgow

Date  Saturday 30th September

Time 7pm till later

Shanbolard Farm, Moyard, Co. Galway

About

PLACE & PLATE for Architecture at the Edge Festival, 2023.

PLACE & PLATE is a hyper-local supper designed & curated by Jeni Glasgow of GLASGOW-DIAZ in collaboration with Connemara based nomadic pop-up THE SEA HARE. 

The supper is a considered response to the project ‘Meat and Two Veg: How Eating Designs The World’ by BothAnd Group.

Meat and two vegetables - explores how a popular dish which is framed as ‘local’ by food marketing campaigns is rather produced across European and global landscapes.  These contradictions are followed in the fieldwork which encounter Ireland’s grass and carrot seeds produced in the Netherlands, its broccoli seeds in Spain and its potato tubers in Scotland. The research unveils the intensive synthetic character of European rural landscapes and presents us with places that have been designed by and for our consumption.

In the unique surrounds of Shanbolard Farm Potting Shed we will enjoy a series of small plates that celebrate the island, the garden, the ocean & the season. Food for thought. Dinner without airmiles. A local story.

PLEASE NOTE:

Places are incredibly limited for this unique supper. If you would like to attend, please email your request to info@theseahare.ie (tickets are €75 each and are limited to two per person) & you will be entered into a draw - if your name is picked you will be sent a link to purchase. Submit application emails no later than 6pm Friday 22.09.23.

The location is on a working farm please wear suitable footwear & warm clothing.

Due to the nature of the event we cannot accommodate dietary requirements; this menu will feature meat, fish, dairy, wheat, eggs, etc

Join the Dots

McCullough Mulvin Architects

Gallery talk / presentation by architect, Valerie Mulvin

Date Saturday 30th September

Time 12:30 – 1:30pm  

Location Festival Printworks Gallery, 15 Market street, Galway

This event is FREE and open to the public. Pre-booking is advised as places are limited.

 About

100 small ideas for sustainable change. Vacancy and dereliction blight the centres of our towns and villages. Why? Because nobody is thinking about them imaginatively as the brilliant spaces they could be. In our post-pandemic world, people can now work remotely – inhabiting our towns and villages – and bringing life back to these amazing instant environments. They can invigorate existing communities and bring fresh thinking to our squares and spaces to create an integrated, and a better, way of living.

We are suggesting Mountrath in county Laois, as a testing ground for ideas for housing that could be applied to any Irish town. New plans can be about small-scale ideas in all kinds of places. The exhibition explores a number of modes of living, typical to towns, in order to draw out their potential in an inventive and pragmatic way. It identifies 100 small ways to make a difference; decisions and actions that could be employed incrementally over time.

Housing, the perfect use for vacancy of upper floors and extending into the backlands behind main streets, can make for interesting interlocking sites and atmospheric spaces. These new models of housing suit inter-generational living and working from home. People choose what housing model best suits their lifestyle, and it could be done at a reasonable cost by using what we already have and making it brilliant for now and for the future.

ESTIMATED POTENTIAL NEW UNITS

We are exploring and detailing here 2 proposed units for ‘Living over the Shop’ and the ‘Live-Work’ model, while a ‘Cycle House’ could produce an estimated 6 units. Adjacent to this, in a typical backlands area, we detail a total of 8 units in a mix of 3 apartments, 3 duplexes and 2 houses. Our intention would be that these prototypes can then be rolled out in multiples across any Irish town setting.

For this particular study - 150 units were identified for Mountrath which could translate into 45,000 units nationwide if replicated for 300 Irish towns.

Project Team

Valerie Mulvin (McCullough Mulvin Architects)
Ruth O’Herlihy (McCullough Mulvin Architects)
Coran O’Connor (McCullough Mulvin Architects)
Iseult McCullough (McCullough Mulvin Architects)
Denis Looby (McCullough Mulvin Architects)
Barry Durkan (Sustainability and property advisor, Durkan Residential)
Graeme Hansell (Fire engineer)
Jack Carter (Local advisor)

Collaborators

Tim O’Sullivan (McCullough Mulvin Architects – Drone footage)

Fabricators

Katie Galvin (Presentation models)
Jan Watte (Watte Woodwork)
Barry Hanratty (Light systems)

Acknowledgements

RTÉ Archive
Laois County Council

‘The Map’

Date:  Wednesday 04th October

Time: 12:30 -1pm & 2 - 4pm

Location: The Mick Lally Theatre

FREE but prebook is advised as places are limited

About

Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon will give a visual presentation and talk on their monumental textile sculpture, ‘The Map’.  The artists will discuss cartography, memory, materiality, and the collaborative process by which they developed their concept of ‘The Map’; originally commissioned for The Magdalene Series by Rua Red Dublin, and on show until October 29th 2023 at the EVA International art biennial in Limerick. 

Following their presentation of ‘The Map’ Fallon and Maher will conduct a 2 hour workshop utilising simple collage and drawing techniques.  During this time the artists will provide an opportunity for participants to engage with the concept of map making through dialogue, image-making, and collective processes experienced through the lens of art practice and the unbound imagination.