IRISH REPRESENTATIVES SELECTED FOR Architecture Biennale in Venice
The architects who will represent Ireland at the 11th International
Architecture Biennale in Venice have been selected by the Commissioners,
the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF) and co- commissioner Dr. Hugh
Campbell, Senior Lecturer in Architecture at UCD.
The nine selected pieces explore the central role of space in our
society, how it frames and structures the patterns and practices of our
collective life, from domestic to civic, from personal to public
The spatial character and the life in use of the recently opened Youth
Centre in Tallaght will be investigated by Grainne Hassett. Gerry Cahill
will examine the changing use of sacred space in Ireland, focusing on
the Mercy Convent in Cork Street. Using linked sequences of perspective
views O’Donnell + Tuomey will show the movement of light through the
central space of An Gael?ras, a cultural centre in Derry. Patrick Lynch
and Simon Walker will document the life of Bóthar Buí, the West Cork
holiday home of Robin and Dorothy Walker which, despite its modest scale
and character, has played a crucial role in the cultural life of the
nation over many decades.
Drawing on their work on a series of cultural and civic spaces in
regional centres, McCullough Mulvin will investigate the transition from
space in design to space in use. Dara McGrath in association with
Robinson McIlwaine will present his stark photographs of the
deconstruction of the Maze/Long Kesh prison, a space of iconic political
significance. De Paor Architects will show their proposed Picture Palace
in Galway, focusing on the spatial journey from street to cinema. Cian
Deegan and Alice Casey from TAKA will use a series of domestic projects
to consider the ritual character of home space. Grafton Architects are
to present a film, which considers the relationship of interior space
and city in two recent projects - the Universita Luigi Bocconi in Milan
and their office development for the OPW on Merrion Row in Dublin.
Designers Conor Nolan and David Wall have been commissioned to design
the publication and associated website. The chosen venue for The Lives
of Spaces is Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, a palace on the Gran Canal next
to the Accademia Bridge.
The Venice International Architecture Exhibition will take place
September 14th to November 23rd 2008. Aaron Betsky, former director for
six years of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) of Rotterdam
and since last year Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, will be the
curator of the 11th International Archite§cture Exhibition: Out There.
Architecture Beyond Building.
http://www.architecturefoundation.ie/press/venice_press_release.pdf