SUMMER SCHOOL:400 young people are set to attend the European Architecture Students Assembly, convening here for the first time this weekend, writes Fank McDonald
TAKE 400 architecture students from more than 40 countries. Throw them together in a hothouse atmosphere for 14 days of talks, lectures, walking tours and workshops in Dublin and Connemara. What you get is the European Architecture Students Assembly (EASA), convening for the first time in Ireland this weekend.
EASA was set up in 1981 by a ginger group led by colourful Edinburgh-based architect Richard Murphy and held its first gathering in Liverpool during a bitter and prolonged docks strike. Part of the motivation behind it was to connect architecture students with the real world of conflict and social deprivation.
This year, the theme is "adaptation", and its focus will be on the dramatic changes in Irish society over the last 20 years - starting with a discussion on "Dublin's metamorphosis", with contributions from artist Robert Ballagh, Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe and Dr Gary Boyd, UCC's first professor of architecture.
The assembly will be officially opened in the sumptuous State Apartments in Dublin Castle on Sunday by Seán Ó Laoire, president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. Also on show will be the shortlisted entries by students for an international design competition.
The winning proposal, WYSIWYG by Anders Malmberg and Gustav Backstrom of Sweden, is to be developed into a workshop to build a mobile, demountable educational pavilion at the GMIT Furniture College in Letterfrack to educate primary school students on renewable energy and sustainable architecture.
Another workshop, entitled Lunch Box, will be led by young Irish architects Dermot Reynolds, Ronan Costello and Joe McMahon, with more than 20 students joining them to build a timber pavilion and landscape proposal in the courtyard of the college, which once served as a notorious reformatory.
Its transformation into a furniture college by O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects was one of the most memorable Irish entries for the Venice Architectural Biennale. Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey (who is to be the new professor of design at UCD's School of Architecture) will also give a lecture on their work.
Other luminaries making presentations include Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, of Grafton Architects, whose huge project for the Bocconi University in Milan is nearing completion; Dominic Stevens, whose work focuses on the Irish rural landscape, and Richard Murphy, who has built houses in Connemara.
Inevitably, the students will hear from younger Irish architects such as Dermot Boyd, of Boyd Cody; Peter Carroll, of A2; Gary Lysaght, of FKL, and Ryan Kennihan, of RKA, followed by a discussion on the state and future direction of architecture in Ireland - at a time when many are being laid off due to the recession.
Other speakers include Jason O'Shaughnessy, of Architecture 53seven in Portlaoise, who will no doubt give the students an interesting perspective on delivering inventive architecture in the midlands, and archaeologist Michael Gibbons, who will steep them in the history, topography and archaeology of Connemara.
The assembly - which includes a think tank on the impact of migration on Europe's built environment - runs from August 9th to 11th in Coláiste Eoin, Booterstown, and UCD, Belfield, before relocating to the furniture college in Letterfrack from August 12th to 24th. It is intended the results of all the workshops will be exhibited in a final exhibition alongside the results of a student photography competition. This exhibition will be on show in the Ellis Hall at GMIT's Letterfrack campus until September 1st.
Design for a living: talks and displays
Members of the public are invited to attend EASA's lectures, exhibitions and discussions in both Dublin and Connemara.
Highlights include:
• Dublin's Metamorphosis, CHQ, Custom House Quay, Sunday, August 10th, noon.
Contemporary Irish Architecture, Astra Hall, UCD, Monday, August 11th, 1.30pm.
Universita Luigi Bocconi Milan, Astra Hall, UCD, Monday, August 11th, 7.30pm.
• At GMIT Furniture College, Letterfrack, you can attend a series of talks by:
Michael Gibbons Archaeologist, Wednesday, August 13th, 8pm.
O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects, Thursday, August 14th, 7pm.
Richard Murphy Architects, Monday, August 18th, 2pm.
Dominic Stevens Architect, Tuesday, August 19th, 7pm.
There will be tours of the workshops on Wednesday, August 20th, 2pm.
Line-ups, venues, dates and times may change. Check the website www.easa008.ie for the most up-to-date information.