If, like us, you believe in the power of architecture and urban design to shape our thoughts about and practices of the world around us, then get involved in our blog. As part of our programme to provoke discussion about the value and importance of architecture to our lives we are working to develop this space as a nationally and internationally coordinated website that promotes the importance ...

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Its nearing the 24 month mark since I, along with some 50 other students, crossed the threshold into graduate territory. Faced with a volatile at best job market, I have become something of an architectural mercenary since this day. When the C.V.'s we send become flashier than the publications by the practices we are rejected by, some fundamental questions need to be addressed. Working ...

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Irish Architecture Foundation Director Nathalie Weadick visits the High Line, New York's new elevated park on disused railway lines The wrought iron railway freight structure in Manhattan is a beautiful thing, strong and wonderfully designed for its purpose as a freight artery down the west side of Manhattan. From 1980 to before it was turned into a park, the line was in disrepair, althoug ...

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Graham Lemon and Company opened the Confectioners' Hall at 49 Lower Sackville Street (now Lower O'Connell Street) in 1842. Early 20th century tiling and signage is still present at first floor level, with some letters missing and others hanging loosely, spelling out "E CONFECTIONERS HAL". The ground floor unit is currently occupied by Foot Locker, with large signage spanning the shop fron ...

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The new Hergé museum in Louvain la Neuve, Belgium, catalogues the illustrious career of the creator of the much beloved Tin Tin. What the exhibition aspires to do is the shine a light on the processes and side projects of a self taught illustrator known mostly for this one very famous creation. With this collection, there is a celebration of the aspirations of a man determined to see the ...

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In relation to the McCarthy report's recommendations for cuts in funding for the Arts, Tuesday night's BBC programme "Imagine - Art in Troubled Times - A new Deal for Art" highlighted the importance of the arts in times of economic depression and focused on the "Community Arts Programme" introduced by President Roosevelt as part of the new deal during the 1930 depression in the USA. It also ...

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After Nature, an important and prophetical group exhibition, which ran recently at the newly refurbished and revamped New Museum in New York, is a requiem for a vanishing planet, an examination of an extinct world that, strangely, and worryingly, resembles the one we find ourselves in today in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Included in the show are looped extracts from Werner H ...

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It’s the buzzword of the century. Often disguised as ‘consultation process’, ‘community-led’ and ‘bottom-up initiatives’, public engagement has become an enemy of its own success. In Britain, at least, within the planning process, it is second in the endless list of jargon currently topped only by ‘sustainability’. And this has come at a high price, because while consistent pu ...

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Clever design adapts well. If your house could be easily adapted to accommodate you on crutches, it’s likely that someone was considering that aspect when it was designed. If there’s a part of it where you could run a home office, with a separate access, the value is increased. Likewise, if the site of a new house could become the location for two well designed houses at a later date. A ...

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The Guinness Power Station building looks out across the Liffey, perched on a slope and surrounded by pipes, tanks, brick chimneys and even a disused windmill. It could be one of the most breathtaking additions to Dublin's cultural spaces if it were converted into a gallery or museum. It is a marvellous icon of early twentieth century architecture, and presents two great facades. One faces to ...

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