issue 03

ASA

ASA UPDATEHi all and welcome to the third is-sue of the Ailtireacht magazine, while it may seem that things have been a little on the quiet side recently don’t worry we the ASA has been busy coming up with various events, movie nights and lectures for the coming months to keep you occupied.

students relaxing at a movie night

We’ve been in contact with various architects organising a lecture series for the coming months. We hope to have Niall Mc Loughlin from Niall Mc Loughlin Architects as well as Grafton Architects who recently completed the Bocconi University in Milan. We’ll keep you posted as things develop.

At Christmas we had a great end of term night in the vaults with the architectural technicians, and then to top it off we had a studio decorating party in the 4th year studio. The decorating party was narrowly won by the 1st year technicians who put in a tremen-dous last minute effort.

Ronan Gallagh-er enjoys the

snow

Also the ASA would like to welcome the AAI second year competi-tion which this year is hosted by DIT and ajudicated by Tom de Poar. Its all kicking off with a wine reception and finger food in the Crit pit on Friday the 20th, and finishing in Sín é, so be there or be square!

If you have any ideas, suggestions or complaints about upcoming events or just want a chat dont hesitate to call up to the third year studio.

Paddy O’Connor

BALL UPDATEThe ASA’s biggest event of the year the ASA Ball is cur-rently being organised. A date, venue and theme haven’t been finalised however it will take place as usual in mid April. We are urgently looking for volunteers from other years and need help with

themes music

decorationvenues

so if you sign up quick you might be in with a few perks on the night.

last years Samba Ball

THIS FRIDAY THE 20th FEB

So here we are again, second term, a little older, a little wiser but no less terrified of Aidan’s beard. After waffling our way through our first ever exams we arrived back with delusions of grandeur intact. However, old habits die hard, so the phrase “You can always repeat a year but you can’t repeat a party” comes to the forefront of our minds.

We then came to the bridge project, the first of the New Year. John Lauder conducted the symphony of destruction, the crash of failing balsa still rings in our ears. This is mostly due to Anna and Aimee’s bridge which was more remniscent of something out of the film Water-World, especially when put up againstthe might of Ross’Golden Gate.

It was then time to move on to the “Adopt A House Project”. This project however, was flawed. It soon became clear that our models were just too small to live in. They needed to be at least…… three times bigger. Although Oisin’s may not have been America’s next top model, it really stood out from the crowd. Yet to our dismay, it simply would not function in any real life situations, as cardboard is a pitiful building material when subjected to rain.

The snow of course, deserves a mention. Tada.

It’s fair to say that the mature students are leav-ing us in their oldschooldust as they effortlessly make us look bad. But we don’t need our food prechewed. Although some of us are trying to make a name for ourselves as smart, confident young architects, its difficult when Hugh Neary thinks Crocodile Dundee lives in Scotland.

The Annestown trip was pretty good. I espe-cially liked the dancing ninjas of architectural destiny.

Ross McCarthy

Ever seen the wicker man?Upon our return to DIT, the second years stormed en masse onto Achill, that big island on our western shores most famous for that man on stars in your eyes who almost got to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest.

After a long and tedious bus journey we ended up in the Valley Hostel, which ironically, isn’t in a valley at all. The best thing about this hostel was that the pub was opened up just for us, leaving great opportunity for merrymaking and painful heads. The following morning we visited Keem bay, a beautiful little sheltered cove, where we will be designing a sailing centre. It had been lashing rain, but as soon as we got off the bus the sun came out, it was still very windy, later there was loads of hail. If you don’t like the weather in Achill, wait for a few minutes. With the work over, we visited a deserted village, devoid of permanent human life, it was filled with suspicious sheep, eyeing us as we passed through.

After our return we set about designing these buildings. It certainly is one of the most difficult projects that we ever have done. How does one put a building in such a beautiful location without ruining the pristine landscape? Thank God it’s theoretical.

We all wait in anticipation for the trip to the south of Spain, which will incorporate Cordoba, Seville and Grenada. I cant wait to visit the Alhambra, which was described by Gerald Brennan in “South” as being like a “gipsy girl sitting under a damp hedge”. Poetic. It will be a welcome relief to the grey skies of Ireland. Mid march is the time.

FirstYear

Secondear

Petie Barry

It is the middle of February already and we have embarked on a fresh 6 week project. Stress levels are high in the third year studio as we attempt to work together masterplanning our different zones.(architects egos??what could you possibly be talking about?) We are trying to create a stronger link between the Grangegorman masterplan and the current college area of Bolton Street. By intergrating the new campus into Bolton St sites currently deemed “wasteland” we hope to improve the area as a whole.Our iterventions prevent a vaccum, which would leave the whole of Bolton st as a “wasteland” occuring when the college moves to Grangorman.

After tackling the southern part of Bolton street before christmas, we are now working on the northern half of the site.This is a very exciting area, composing of:

Henrietta Street-which Olivia is one a one woman mission to conqure and restore) Kings Inn-Which after a 2 hour lecture to from its knowlega-ble dictator(sorry I mean director)we learned their students get free wining and dining every week...hmm suddenly those wigs are looking good.Linnenhall-The home of DITs one and only porter that actu-ally likes architects(yes he does exsist).

ThirdYear

This varying context and topography we have to work with should lead to some amazing projects. All we need is a green light from DIT and we can forget all about this recession...

FourthYear

Niamh Chambers

Broadstone station- where myself and Ruth learned that sweet talking the guards is not the way forward-if you want photos trespassing is the only way to go.North King Street council flats-don’t knock them till you’ve tried them, their high balconies have been an invaluable asset to the national egg throwing team for years.

ThirdYear

Swimming in ShitHooray, hooray, Glenn Murcutt is here. After last week’s fantastic sojourn to west Cork, the prevailing memory of which is the freezing, biting, gnawing cold, we are all settling down to our latest architectural follies. Glenn is certainly setting expectations high from the outset, demanding we all become experts on ecological sewage treatment overnight. The invasion of our precious Saturday freedom was thought to be a step too far by some, especially so early on in the project. But these are the sacrifices one must make to find oneself in the pres-ence of such genius!

In all seriousness, having Glenn around has been a great experience. His enthusiasm and ‘joie de vivre’ have given a definite boost in the traditional post-Christmas slump. The brief is certainly all encompassing with a public or commercial structure, hous-ing, landscaping and, of course, sewage treatment required by each of us. It’s nice to see such a variation in solutions being proposed for the town by the class ranging from the somewhat pansy culinary school to the undoubted manliness of a cider brewery. It will certainly be interesting to see how things progress during the rest of this twelve week project, culminating with the return of Glenn to see if our sewage systems actually work or if the shit hits the fan.In the wake of the recent downturn we have been witness to scenes reminiscent of the 80’s as more classmates set sail from these green shores in search of a better life or maybe just a piss up, availing of the fantastic get-out clause that is Erasmus! Happily leaving everyone else with that little bit extra elbow room in the studio.Elsewhere our Thursday evenings have been freed up by the completion of the Contem-porary Urbanism lecture series, leaving lots more time for waste water research. We have, however, been hit with the inclusion of a new mysterious class on Friday after-noons known simply as LAW. Another new addition is all round man of gentry Paul Kelly (of FKL fame), who will be joining the studio staff for the remainder of the year. Hopefully his arrival will be able to fill the hole in our hearts that will surely be left later on today when Glenn climbs aboard his own ship and sets sail back down under. The circle of life continues. Glenn is gone, long live Paul.

FourthYear

Vox Pop

41 % of architect will have lost their jobs by march of this year. now that your chances of getting a job are nil, what would be your dream career?

Anonymous

“peelot”

Darragh Brathenach

Ballet dancer

Suri Cruz’s nanny

Courtney McDonnell

Kieran Ryan

Pro juggling

performance artist

Lingerie model

Maria Larkin

Food critic

Ronan Gallegher

Paul O’Sullivan

Furniture maker Carpenter

Carlos, Spanish Erasmus student

Sailor

JessicaLange

Bike mechanic

Shane Morgan

Nature Film Photographer

Aiden O’Shea

Jewellery designer

Caroline Mahon

And so… finally, after months of research and sleepless nights, reviews, a logbook to contend with and just a couple of exams thrown in for good measure, we arrived relatively un-scathed to semester two, hallelujah! Now there’s simply the matter of actually designing a building based upon all that research. Sigh.

The external reviews had gone well, or aswell as can be expected after a week of sleep deprivation and a diet of chicken fillet rolls and triple deckers, but the promise of respite during Christmas managed to get the year over the half way line. Alas, as the more wizened heads amongst us know, Christmas and Architecture don’t mix, somethings gotta give, and so not for the first time, baby Jesus played second fiddle to work, in this case putting to-gether a logbook with some students starting theirs from scratch (and there I was thinking it would be a push-over). The deadline for the logbook hand up was the 13th and the final few days in the run-up to the hand-up were like a repeat of the first external review. The month of January felt like a bucket of cold water being thrown over our heads, once we had finished with our log book hand-up then came the exams the first starting on the 16th. In the wonderful world that is Bolton Street we got less than 3 days to study for our first exam, and then just a day or two between each of the remaining papers. Thankfully we only had three papers to contend with but given their worth, 20% of the total years marks

Finally, with exams completed a pleasant weekend was had by all spent doing absolutely nothing. Semester two began proper with a welcome back by the staff and a feeling of optimism in the air, a feeling that the turbulent waters of semester one were be-hind us and that we were on solid ground this term round. No other distractions, and over 50% of the years marks still to go we only have to contend with a design, something which after many informative years spent in the company of the likes of Dermot Boyd and Noel Brady should come naturally to us, right? Well, fingers crossed. While we are disappointed that Glenn Murcutt wouldn’t be treating our year like slaves, it’s good to know that fourth years are being well groomed for their final year, and while I’m on the subject, if anyone in fourth year wishes to adopt a fifth year for semester two, it would be greatly appreciated, there’s plenty to choose from, so do your bit for those brave and handsome folks on Green street, and remember! A fifth year isn’t just for Christmas, it’s for life. (Note: fifth years may not be sold seperately, must not be fed after midnight)

before...

FifthYear

photo courtesty of www.fantasyjackpalance.com

Brian Fitzgearld

photo courtesty of www.fantasyjackpalance.com

“Right, yeah, Barcelona would be savage, think Gaudi. Aarhus, mini-Cork, long established, great sambos…You?” “Finland. Northern lights, Aalto, Santa and if anyone knows timber it’s the Finns….”“Ah look. Berkeley. Ivy League and you get to stay a year…”“Stuttgart. Hear they’re mad into their 3-D there, and yeah, blob architecture….”“Here, what’s this? Gdansk? Poland? Does anyone actually know anything about it?” Shrug o’shoulders. The talks began, two veteran Erasmus students would give a presentation. The advantages and disadvantages of every school were being variably weighed. Most countries got coverage and each seemed more appealing than the last. Halfway down came Gdansk. “This is a new one,” announced the co-ordinator. “Our first student there sent us this e-mail ‘Everything here is cheap. One third price of home, especially the vodka.’” Guilt arose immediately as I found myself being tempted. “Architecture, archi-tecture, think architecture…” People silently stared and swiftly looked away as our glances grazed. “Next….” Going home, waiting for the Houdini bus (the 11) at the shelter, shivering from the west wind that sliced through the badlands and broadbands of Clonskeagh, I found my eyes drawn to the bus stop advertisement. It was a small distraction from the rolling traffic jam. There it was. Gdansk.

A woman in a Macintosh trench coat was walking into the background over a cobblestone street. Her head was poised over her left shoulder, staring back at the observer with eyes of glaring indifference. Stylish and sexy, the scene was reminiscent of Paris or Prague circa 1968. Definitely, there was an air of revolution here in this window on a Clonskeagh wall.

Maybe you’ll come to Gdansk.Maybe you’ll stay a few days.

Maybe you’ll go home.Maybe….

That ad appeared two more times on the way home. The seed had been planted and was slowly germinating. Slight curiosity led to research led to serious contemplation led to firm decision. Two weeks left and I’ll soon know the wisdom of caving in to advertising. Maybe I was foolish, maybe I was delirious, maybe I’ll learn, maybe…….

The Great Erasmus Expo of ’07 was well under way as we scratched, scraped and shuffled our way through the sea of plastic seats, arbitrary cups of coffee in our hands with emaciated faces from lack of sleep. Hands shaking from cold and near caffeine poi-soning, our small group of third years eyed each other in silent, knowing solidarity. Work, work, work, crits, work. Conversation was short and exhaled through bated breath and grinding teeth.

after.

UCD

Blathmhac O’Muiri

One of the things you face when embarking on the erasmus programme is the unique approach to architecture in different universities around europe. The Spanish are known for their technical expertise, the germans for their diagrams and the dutch ... well they’re just hyper.The Scandinavians on the other hand are known for their loose morals, tight pants and creative freedom. They’ve got wood and they know how to use it. So there I was, expecting to coast through an examlesssemester in Oslo, when *BAM* tutors from the Bartlett in London burst in the door and hijacked our studio. We were given 3 days to pick a site and program in Barcelona using only google earth - it was to be a factory in the city centre. We were introduced to a student from the previous semester who designed a brewery based on the internal or-gans of a fat scottish beer-guzzler - ‘Beat that’ they said. We duly obliged and our projects included a slaughter house based on cut sections of a ham serrano, a candy factory derived from a stickycook-ing experiment, a biofuel algae farm turned high density carpark,a tannery that bulged and grew leather skin and an underground wastewater thera-peutic baths. Needless to say I was bamboozled sin-cefor the first three years of college I had kept the <Ortho on> But I can’t say I wasn’t excited about breaking free from platonic solid sand indulging in the forbidden fruit of the blob. To add a bit of spice to the recipe, our projects were to respond to human interaction and envi-ronmental influence which changed the nature of

the building over time so that it became a photo-sensitive, worn and torn, growing organism that embodied the essence of each particular industrial process. Our tutor flew over from London every two weeks to fill our heads with fantastical notions of living, breathing and evolving - for want of a better word - buildings. Irish architecture suddenly seemed like those wooden toys passed down from your grandparents. We were shown furniture being sketched in mid air, motion captured and 3d print-ed, victimless leather jackets growing in test-tubes and wax vessels constructed by swarms of bees. Technology was to be the driver of our future architecture and the possibilities were endless. At this point my cranial scratch disks were full and I needed to reboot. Cue tequilla party in the spanish studenthaus combined with ridiculously expensive norwegian beers, a hint of german electronic mu-sic and some world renowned french hospitality to wash it all down. The life of an erasmus student is a clash of cultures, a bonding of nations and most of all an opening of minds. If you get the opportu-nity, go for it. As for the studio itself - it was a rollercoaster ride and to be honest it did make me sick at times. There was a lot of hype andsparse architectural precedent to work with. The results were pure fantasy and the problem-solvers among us got bogged down with scientific re-search. Our tutors liked to indulge themselves and criticise us, but that’s nothing new. Now I’m back on home soil, in the safety of the box.

Rate my Erasmus

UCD

Ronan Kenny

Coming back in January was a shock to the system for most however; we had to join up with our fellow 1st year Archi-tects, for the now infamous Mechanics and Structures balsa wood 3-day project.After a lot of hours, superglue and the ungluing of hands from tables, it was al-ready Wednesday and time for the brick testing! In what was described as ‘The best year’ for this project so far, the standard ranged from holding three bricks then

as expected with many projects due but, we still managed to keep up the 1st Year tradition of winning the Christ-mas decorating Studio Competition held by the ASA. Our studio had many handmade butter and colour paper decorations, as well as our signature T-square Christmas trees!The celebrations were held in the run-ners up (4th year) studio, in which we all enjoyed our prize of Cadburys Roses.

collapse to, all the bricks and the dropping of a concrete block on top of that (It still didn’t budge).In what was described as ‘The best year’ for this project so far, the standard ranged from holding three bricks then collapse to, all the bricks and the dropping of a concrete block on top of that (It still didn’t budge). At the moment we are currently in the sec-ond stage (Esquisse) of our final project.

The run up to Christmas was as crazy ...

FirstYear

Technology

What do you get when you cross architectural technologists, a lack-luster ap-proach to college work, four studio desks and a piece of partition board? The answer is a number of table tennis champions with an attention to detail like no other. That has basically been our situation since the last issue, until that is, the untimely death of our in-studio table and our introduc-tion into the wonderful world of concrete. “I don’t know”, says a grieving Jenni Wilson when asked about its destruction.“Very much so”, says a distraught Fintan Wallace.Like our two previous projects, concrete has left many with a desire to abandon technology and sell bananas on Moore Street. Five concept buildings were hand-picked from the RIAI West Cork Art Centre Design Competition and distributed among the class. It will be our largest hand-up to date consisting of an Esquisse, a Fire Cert and Services Drawings, General Arrangement Drawings, 1:20 and 1:5 Details. It will be most students first time working from conceptual presentations as opposed to working on existing buildings. Having just handed up our concrete esquisse, we were quickly escorted into the world of Fire Safety with an introductory lecture from Andrew O’Rourke, a qualified fire safety engineer. As our work load has increased there has been a dramatic downturn in Bondi’s profits and very few class nights out have been arranged. Another thing of notable interest, or all soccer fans out there…………. Second Year Technologists 6 – 4 Second Year Architects ……………

SecondYear

Technology

In Third Year Technology, Thesis is the buzz word. Tech-nologists float around the studio fuelled with Blue Bear and Rockstar, whipping out details like it’s nobody’s business….but seriously though technology isn’t all about details. This year we work with fourth year Architects; we take their theatre designs for the new abbey and make them buildable. Firstly we stop the buildings from falling down, then we make sure that they don’t burn to the ground or at least that if the building does burn down we make sure that everybody can get out before it does! A lot of our work as an Architec-tural Technologist is making sure that the Architects Design becomes a safe comfy and healthy environment in which to work live and play.When we get all that boring stuff done we get to the Archi-tecture. It’s primarily our job to understand the Architects Concepts and make them a reality. This can mean solving structural problems to achieve fantastic forms, researching the newest technologies to create state of the art designs and loads and loads of research into materials to bring the design to life.When we’re not doing all this we like to get our cocktails on and you’re welcome to join us anytime!

ThirdYearTechnology

Craig O’Halloran

Adam & Lee

Michael Archer, David Byrne & Tim Cooke.

Tec Help

TOP 5 TIPS TO KEEP YOUR LAPTOP VIRUS FREE

Use a good Anti-VirusThe best phrotection against any Virus is having good early de-fence system.

You will immediately notice from this list that AVG is no longer in the Top 5, it is currently located at No. 7. Similarly McAfee No. 11 and Norton No.12 are very poor at protecting your Laptop. I would not recommend either Norton or McAfee as they dramatically reduce the performance of your laptop.I am currently testing BitDefender, I find it very robust and good at projecting your laptop from other Virus hazards. These mainly come from other student’s Removable USB Keys and IPods. BitDefender also scans these removable disks discretely & automatically to protect your laptop from any risks.

1. BitDefender €19.43

2. Kaspersky€ 31.12

3.Webroot€ 31.12 4.G Data

€ 45.57 5. Eset Nod 32€ 31.16

The Top 5 Anti-virus programs in descending order are:

1

2 The best way to keep a clean Registry.The majority of laptop users run Windows. This Operation System (OS) has a central spinal system which is called the System Registry. This is the core of the operating system. A Virus is usually designed to attack this system to paralyse your laptop. If the registry becomes damaged, the user’s laptop loses much of its ability and thus leaves with the only option of re-installing Windows. This can often cause much of the user’s data to be lost if not backed up.The best program to use to repair damage to the Laptop’s OS is CC Cleaner.

CC Cleaner (bad programme)

3 Remove Threats Post InfectionShould your Laptop become infected, the first thing to do is log onto http://housecall65.trendmicro.comThis is an online facility that scans your machine via the internet that identifies and removes existing & potential treats.Another program that Trend Micro offer for free is HijackThis. An unusual title, but a very effective program. This small application scans your computer at the start up stage before any virus has the ability to install themselves and commence harmful operations.

4 DO Weekly Virus Scans & UpdatesIt is best practice to perform weekly updates of your Anti-virus & Scans of your Laptop. Sunday is the best day to perform this maintenance, as your laptop is usually not being used heavily compared to other days in studio. These updates and scans can still be preformed while browsing as they are primarily background processes and require the minimum of system resources.

5 OS (operating system) UpdatesOther important methods of keeping your laptop virus free is by maintaining a healthy Operating system. This can be achieved by keeping the OS Firewall on and by performing regular weekly & critical updates provided automati-cally by either Microsoft if you are running Windows or Vista or by Apple if you are running Leopard or Tiger.

For web browsing I recommend Firefox or Google’s new browser Chrome. Both of these Internet browsers are fast and efficient. I would try to avoid Internet Explorer & Safari as both of these browsers are prone to many technical and stability problems when navigating Media Sites.

Finally, the most important tip is to Create Regular Backups, either buy some Blank DVDs or a removable hard disk. The benefits of this cannot be stressed enough.

Niall J Kane

Should you be so lucky as to get together with a beautiful architecture student then here are some of the pros and cons that you should consider before you decide to ‘go steady’:

Pro: You can talk about your architectural ideas together.Con: You can’t talk about anything else.

Pro: You don’t really need to meet new people outside architecture.Con: You don’t even TRY to meet new people outside the course.

Pro: Your partner understands the stress that you are under.Con: Your partner is under the same stress.

Pro: You will always wear matching black outfits.Con: This should be obvious.

Pro: You have the same friends.Con: You ONLY have the same friends.

Pro: You can cuddle your partner in studio.Con: This may lose you friends!

Pro: You get to spend almost all of your time together.Con: You HAVE to spend almost all of your time together.

We hope that these beads of wisdom will be useful to you, but you should also remember that they are not rules, only guidelines, so enjoy the upcoming events and make the most of every opportunity that arises and you (probably) won’t go wrong!

The Top 5 Anti-virus programs in descending order are:Dating and Architecture

The Do’s and Don’ts of ArchiDatesIt is a well-known fact of student life that at some point you will hook up with one of your classmates and architecture students are no exception to this rule. Architecture students have the great disadvantage of not having enough free time outside college to find an ‘Outsider’ to date, and with most of our booze-fuelled social events scheduled to coincide with the crit-pit calendar it is inevitable that relationships develop between students. Some-times it can end well, see O’Donnell and Tuomey, and sometimes it can end not-so-well. So with a number of ASA events on the horizon, here are some things to keep in mind if you are thinking of trying it on with one of your fellow archistudents:

• Trytoavoidscoringsomeoneinyourownyearif youcan.In-ter-year relationships have greater benefits i.e. Better chance of escape/Someone to teach you how to plot.• Trytobagyourself anErasmusstudent.Theyaremysteriousand exotic creatures (and they’ll be gone home in a few months if it all goes horribly wrong)• Makesureyoubroadenyourhorizons,i.e.Trytoavoidgettingwith too many members of the same circle of friends (this can be a little tricky, believe me)• If youdoendupkissingsomebody fromyourownclass (andthe chances of this happening are pretty good) well, don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Anonymous

Interview

A date with Glenn Murcutt

The thought of spending another valentines day alone with no flowers or chocolates (well at least not received by a boyfriend) was a depressing prospect… until I realised that Glenn Murcutt had graciously agreed to be interviewed for Ailtireacht on this very day. A complete coinci-dence of course. It’s not every day you bring a prize winning architect of Glenn’s standards out to lunch so nerves were running high. It didn’t come as a complete surprise to find that Glenn is a regular down-to-earth guy; this is because after studying his buildings and listening to him talk you will realise that he does not have any high flying, convoluted ideas. Further demonstrated when he quoted “since we spend most of our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well”.So what kind of questions do you ask an architect who has probably been asked everything ever already? “no silly questions” was Noel Brady’s advice. So keeping this in mind we began with a few questions about his career and the what he has achieved.

I mean when you have been awarded practically every prize, medal and award going can there be any stones left unturned? Still though glen remains eager and enthusiastic “There is always a future and the future is still left untold, so you have to have a quickness of mind to adapt. However you cant turn every stone, so I just try and turn the stones as they emerge, taking the op-portunities as they arrive. I’m nearly 73 so I don’t know how many stones I have left.”With a career as successful as Glenn’s you have to wonder at what point did he realise that he had made it, but Glenn remains casual and passes off his success as if it was not something to brag about “I still haven’t really realised what my career has become. I’m still nervous and anxious before giving lectures. I never asked for this exposure, while I always made my work avail-able for publication and facilitated interviews and publications, I never actively sought publicity or publication so it still comes as a surprise to me when I win things.” Then instead of describing his extensive list of prizes he proceeded to recount some quite funny stories about how incredulous even he was at receiving these awards, for example, when Glenn received the Alvar Aalto Medal; he received a letter sent to him by the SAFA board; and was so convinced that it was a hoax, it took his family two weeks to persuade him to ring the office in Finland. After more confusion and another phone call, he spoke to the Chief Executive of the board and it took him twenty-minutes to convince Glenn that he was the man he claimed to be, and that he would indeed actually receive the Alvar Aalto Medal

His modesty was further reinforced when he said “that I would rather people go past my buildings but then go back because they find it interesting.” Most architects these days seem to misinterpret his buildings as objects in the landscape, but this is not so; Glenn likes to think of his buildings not as objects but “as instruments” and while some of us often feel that a difficult site can be a hindrance and choose to completely remodel them, Glenn feels that “the conditions of the site are gifts, gifts to be used by instruments.”

For an architect with such innovative methods of designing and thinking, why does he still keep his practice so small? He is the first to admit that he has no staff, and thus cannot train anybody directly. This in part is why he has taken these kinds of profes-sorships in Australia and abroad; he quoted the aboriginal phrase “you must give it away to keep it”. Indeed he has given a lot away, teaching at such prestigious schools as Yale, Pennsylvania IT and Helsinki. We here at the Dublin School of Architecture are the last of his commitments to teach abroad – after this he will take up a professorship at the University of New South Wales. Glenn’s desire to focus on his home life and work in his practice are primary factors in this decision, not his age. Infact the 8 days he spent here at the DSA saw more 9am starts in one week than I have had all year, the pace was faster than a David Ghrol drum solo. Glenn likes to play Devil’s advocate in questioning all our reasons, approaches and methods. A recent example of this was the Simpson Lee house which reinforces this attitude; this successful client wanted “every design decision argued about.” At the end of a very lengthy and thorough design and build process Mr. Lee said that that “the only thing he was disappointed in was that the process was finished” and explained the continual questioning by saying “I wanted to find out that every design decision was serious.”

So for a one man office who only designs in his native Australia, how does he feel about all these “iconic” buildings that are being designed by the new generation of starchitects?“I’m glad of many buildings that have been done. But these iconic buildings were reserved for very special experiences , such as religious experiences such as cathedral churches monasteries mosques. These were traditionally the iconic buildings.” Many cities have tried to brand themselves with some kind of international status symbol, Bilbao being the most obvious example. It’s quite refreshing to see that despite his success architecture remains a sacred practice for Glenn; “When materialism and wealth becomes the icon thing in our lives, then the manifestation of that is the icon building. It is the manifestation of success. I am not interested in that at all.”

As lunch wrapped up I reflected on what had just passed. I had just interviewed Glenn Murcutt, inspirational architect and Pritz-ker Prize winner, but the man I sat down to lunch with was not the one I slowly made my way back to college with. He seemed more human, which came as rather a surprise. I realised that Glenn Murcutt was much like his architecture, you may walk by him apathetically on the street but once you explore the detail you will find an extraordinary mind at work, something those bustling by us on a frenzied Saturday afternoon in Dublin might not be so likely to notice.

Cecily Quetin Weeks

Olivia Rusk

Welcome to the Erasmus issue of the Ailtereacht Magazine. With the implementation of a new Er-asmus program in DIT we felt it was time to spread the good word to you, the students, and provide an informed debate on the pros and cons of the Erasmus program.We interviewed the Head of the Erasmus program, contacted past and present Erasmus students, both Irish and from abroad and attended the seminar, all in the name of accessible information. Through all this research, we found encouraging signs of enthusiasm and organisation peeking through the cracks of DIT’s neglected Erasmus program.

As Noel Brady puts it, “for students, it’s the exposure to new methods of teaching, the cul-tural exchange and the immersion in another language and design.”

The programmes that are already approved and offered are

University of Nebraska (Lincon) USA•RWTH Aachen, Germany•HafenCity Universitat Hamburg, Germany•Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, School •of Architecture of the Vallés (ETSAV), Barcelona, SpainENSA Paris La Villette, France•Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de •Montpellier (ENSAM), Montpellier, FranceUniversita degli studi di Genova, Italy•Politecnico di Milano, Italy•School of Architecture, Denmark•

Under review areBern Universtiy of Applied Sciences, Swit-•zerlandRoyal School of Copenhagen, Denmark•School of Architecture, Lund University, •Sweden

But remember, most of these links were initiated by students so if you’re interested in studying somewhere that is not listed don’t be discour-aged, it still might be possible.

Erasmus

Where can I go?

So what is the Erasmus program and why should you go?

The Erasmus program is an agreement between certain European Universities to allow stu-dents in similar courses to exchange places, substituting a year or semester of study in a for-eign education system. It offers the chance to broaden your educational experience, immerse yourself in a diffenert culture, improve your language skills and gain lifelong personal skills.

Noel Brady; The man with a plan

Cons Pros

Lack of preparation for the thesis year•Language difficulties•Lack of contact with studio staff•Irrelevant modules or subjects studied, due to •misleading prospectiClasses are seperated and it can be difficult to •make friends

Learning a foreign language is a great skill to have in the •future. Meeting lots of new, fun people.•The experience of living in a foreign city and experiencing the •culture firsthand.A different approach to architectural eduaction can broaden •your creative scope and give you fresh ideas for your thesis year.The opportunity to take new modules and explore different •areas of design.Gaining independence and developing self-motivation and •critique skills in studio.

There are many different approaches to archi-tectural education across Europe, from theory based teaching to the practical and technical teaching methods that some colleges offer. Another factor to take note of is the amount of time afforded to students with tutors. Some colleges focus on your ability to self motivate and critique, a view which often shakes DIT students.

Applying for the exchange itself can be quite easy. Unless, that is, you want to attend a college that has not yet been approved, then it is a slightly more complicated process that involved setting up links with the university in question. Not impossible but it requires a little more dedication and forms.

Although many European courses teach through English, it would be beneficial to have at least conversational skills in the local language. This will make it easier to get on with class-mates, get around the vicinity and chat up hot locals.

It’s important to research the university you intend to apply to, so that you get the most out of this experience.

Erasmus

Niamh Iremonger

Helen-Rose Condon

West 8 Lecture Review

Can landscape architecture and urban design projects successfully repair the damaged fabric of the city as we know it? Can widening footpaths and planting trees be enough to stitch it all together or is urban design capable of more? What can architecture and the built form offer in ways of solutions?

These were some of the topics raised by the audience at the recent West 8 lecture in the CHQ, organised by the AAI. West 8 are a landscape architecture and urban design firm based in Holland.

Martin Biewenga of West 8 opened the lecture with an image of Dutch windmills lining the horizon, a self-confessed clique, which Martin Biewenga used as an intro-duction to the firm’s interest in the landscape. Almost one-fifth of the Netherlands is reclaimed from the sea, lending to a Dutch attitude that we don’t have to conform to the contours we’re presented with. Martin Biewenga went on to discuss wasteland around the city, a topic close to all third year’s hearts. Undervalued and unused sites across a city are often the sites that they are called to work in, attempting to bring life back into these ‘wastelands’.

One project which was bound to strike interest was their recent works in the Dublin Docklands, right on our doorstep. West 8 proposed a series of new connections across the river, focusing on the pedestrian and public transport links after identifying the Liffey as the heart of our city, and noting the distinct lack of bridges in the Docklands region. Martin Biewenga spoke about creating new destinations along the waterfront which would activate these new route ways, envisioning new buildings, re-occupying warehouses and abandoned structures.

West 8 gave a very comprehensive view into their works, explaining their projects from their analysis of the site, how it influ-enced the concept, through development and on to actual construction. Parque Lineal de Manzanares in Madrid was one such project, a linear park spanning almost 6 km, covering the newly buried 6-lane road though Madrid’s city centre. West 8 used a template of abstracted cherry blossoms to create the pattern of hard and soft landscaping snaking along the rivers edge.

Unfortunately, West 8’s thorough coverage of five projects in Dublin, Madrid, Majorca and Toronto did drag the lecture into the two hour timeframe, resulting in many early leavers, but I wouldn’t feel this is a reflection on either the quality of the lecture or their work. Landscape architecture may not always focus on bold moves but maybe the current economic climate will push West8 and other urban designers forward, using small interventions to re-occupy the existing fabric and stitch infrastructure back together.

20th

febAAI Second Year Student Competition, Dublin School of Architecture, DIT Bolton Street, 4pm

26th

feb

AAI Lecture – Jürgen Mayer H. MacNeil Theatre, Hamilton Building, Trinity College 7.30pm

Exhibition - Yinka Shonibare, MBE, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin, runs to 30th August

3rd

mar Exhibition - Hughie O’Donogh @ IMMA, Kilmainham runs to 17th May

5th

marAAI Lecture – Martha Schwartz @ CHQ 7.30Theatre - Solemn Mass for a full moon in sum-mer 7.30pmProject Arts Centre,Theatre Space Upstairs, runs to 28th Marchmar

Exhibition - James Coleman - organised by IMMA in collaboration with the Royal Hibernian Academy and Project Arts Centre. Runs to 26th April

Whats on....

7th

Ruth Hynes

Ruth Hynes

An Italian Girl in Dublin

The biggest difference between the Italian and Irish method is that here everything is more practical, in Italy the lecturers are the ones that give the lectures and the students are the ones that take notes and listen, of course we have studio work also but it is less intense. If I had to say which is the best I don’t know. Both are useful one more practical the other more theo-retical but sometimes there can be really interesting lectures in Italy that are a joy to attend. Also in Italy we make maximum 3 models per year, here my class mates make many models that seem so simple and quick to make (just for them) that it is just like a baker making a little biscuit. And me “the Italian Girl” is trying to follow that example, learning something from ev-eryone, someone can help me for the English grammar, someone for sketch-es, someone for 3d modelling and someone for the card model. So everyone has taught me something and for this reason I’m extremely grateful.Unfortunately while I have been learning a lot from my fellow classmates I have not had the opportunity to help them as much as I would like, so hopefully this semester I will do my best to teach them all a little about the Italian way. In fact unlike my amazing partner in adventure Andrea who has left a couple of days ago, I will be here with you until the end of the year!!!

I arrived to the city of Guinness on the 13th of September and I faced the problems of organisation, exams, streets, accommodation. Daft.com was my bubble for around 20 days. But above all “what are people saying”?? This was the most frequent question I asked myself during my first period in Dublin and unfortunately sometimes this question happened again and again, like a big question mark in my brain….Although this was difficult it was okay because whenever I had a panic moment I would just ask the help of everybody around me and constantly I received the best help possible, everyone was always very obliging. So for that reason I started to fall in love with Irish people, they are always calm, super friendly, welcoming, sweet and cheerful. In short adorable.Speaking for human interaction I would consider myself completely satisfied, my mark for the Irish wel-come 100% without any doubt.

And now came the hardest challenge….. The school…..usually people that go on Erasmus pass their exams with minimum effort and with the maximum results. But this is not my case; here the school is really hard. They expect a lot from me and have a very intense rhythm of work and with methods that are really different from the usual Italian method. So I have to say that I have had really bad moments with hysterics and tears and panic. There were times when the bags under my eyes were so big that they reached my knees, showers of glue with no end. But maybe because I’m a masochist I enjoy the approach (sometimes) it’s really stimulating and it has given me a lot of satisfaction, and it has helped me develop a lot as an architect.

12th

mar AAI Lecture – Hackett Hall McKnight @ Trin-ity College, 7.30pm

26th

marAAI Lecture – Agence Ter @ CHQ, 7.30pm

27th

mar

AAI Awards @ The Irish Architec-tural Archive, Merrion Square 7pm

Exhibition - Fischli & Weiss / Asafo Fante Flags @ DHG Trinity College runs to 6th May

1st

apr Exhibition – Calder Jewellery @ IMMA, runs to 21st June

2nd

aprAAI Lecture – Donaghy & Dimond @ Trinity College 7.30pm

17th mar

Alessandra Bruzzone

Mark Halpin

Well, Mountjoy Square is where the Interior and Furni-ture Design (dt544) is located in Mountjoy Square with approxiamately 100 students.At Bolton Street we have Architecture and Architectural Technology courses with a total of 395 people.

If you were to search the library for the key word “archi-tecture” and limit the search to Mountjoy Square only you would find 2025 results. Do the same for Bolton Street and you get 4184 results.

Now to summariseMJS 100 people=2025 booksBS 395 people= 4184

Four times as many people = only twice as many books?

Library

So what can you do about it? Well next time you have to go to Mountjoy Square why not take out as many books as possible and drop them all back into Deposit box in Bolton Street, a protest of sorts. Or simply request that the Bolton Street library purchase the book you got from Mountjoy Square, pointless for your immediate use but think of the poor person next year who could end up doing the exact same thing as you.

So the next time you’re really annoyed about going to Mount-joy Square just fill this form out and drop it into the library. You don’t need all the info, just fill in as much as you can, and hopefully the next time you’re looking for that all important reference, it will be sitting on a shelf in Bolton Street waiting for you.

Exhibition Review

“An Ark Kit Puncture, Anarchy Torture, An Arctic Lecture, An Orchid Texture, An Art Collector...”

One of greatest assets of Bolton Street’s School of Archi-tecture is its situation in the centre of Dublin. Yet toiling five days a week on the fourth floor, in what has become our ivory tower, means that our view of the city consists of our route to and from college. One detour I’m always glad to make is to the Hugh Lane Gallery, just around the corner on Parnell Square. On Sun-day the 8th of February a screening of works by Gordon Matta Clark was held to celebrate the end of the recent ‘Now’s The Time’ exhibition, which celebrated artists who’s lives were cut short prematurely.

The films screened were ‘The Wall’ (illegally wallpapering the Berlin Wall in the political unrest of the 70’s), ‘Coni-cal Intersect/Sous-sol de Paris (a ‘building-cut’ through a 17th century Paris building next to the under-construction Pompidou Centre and a chronicle of Paris’ underground) and ‘Office-Baroque’ (another, more intricate, ‘building-cut’ carried out in Antwerp unbeknownst to the disapproving local planning authorities). The films have dated hilari-ously – awful suits and haircuts and appalling soundtracks abound in crackly, pixelated views but the premise behind each work still resonates with clarity.

Trained and fully qualified as an architect Matta Clark chose to practise, not conventional architecture, but what he referred to as ‘Anarchitecture’. A dramatically physical, deconstructivist architecture, rather ahead of its time. His work was diverse, ranging from the political and social to sculptural. As part of his ‘Anarchitecture’ movement Matta Clark explored the idea of ambiguous or left over space within a city.

So have you ever wondered why the only book you are looking for is in Mountjoy square?Yes, we have all been there. You look up a book and discover that the only copy is located up in Mountjoy Square, you decide that the book you’re looking for is important enough to make the effort to hike up

to Mountjoy Square library, which you finally discover after trekking through the cold and rain. Four weeks later with a hefty fine overdue, you have to repeat the journey to return the book to it’s ‘rightful’ home . So let’s check, why do they have so many books?

His art wasn’t only about turning squalid architecture into sculp-ture, his broader interest was in forlorn spots, the spaces between walls, forgotten and unnoticed sites. Through his interventions, he intended that people might see the city afresh and reconsider the notions that govern our lives – property, ownership and social exchange.

Leonora Daly

The Ailtireacht magazine has been an on/off publication of ASA in DIT for the past number of years and we feel privileged to have the opportunity to start a new chapter of this erratic tradition. We believe that this magazine is a great opportunity to cre-ate a platform for student debate and issues. Throughout the academic year we have striven to uphold a certain standard while maintaining a student vibe and respecting the right to freedom of opinion.

As editors of the Ailtireacht magazine we would like to break our silence for the first time and add a wee note to this edition. Firstly we would like to thank our contributors of the past three issues and thank our sponsors for their continued support. We realise how annoying our constant persistence is for submissions and are eternally grateful for the material received. We would also like to thank Glenn Murcutt who kindly gave our small publication an inspiring interview, our intimidation was quickly dissolved in the first few minutes.

It is on this note that we must mention an article published in the last edition. The article in question is the A2 review of their lecture which took place on the 27th of November. The architects mentioned have brought it to our attention that the article was not what either party would call an unbiased review of the event, but instead an unprofessional and harsh interpretation of the lecture. As editors of the Ailtireacht magazine we would like to apologise for this lack of due consideration.

Editor’s Note

ASA contact details: asaboltonst@gmail.comshane - 0872535966

editors: helen rose condon & cecily quetin-weeks

front cover; designed by Neil Ginty

if you would like to have your company name and logo here feel free to contact the ASA about a sponsorship package

next contribution deadline thurs 2nd Apr

with thanks to all our contributors inc:Mike O’DellRuth HynesNeil GintyEnthna Walls

Thank you to all the contributors. If you would like to contribute please come find

us in the 4th year studio