#19 MONEY
The Informal: from Besitzerhaus to Rural Ireland
Why the talk is inspiring?
Dominic Stevens discusses the informal economy in its relation to architecture. Learning from the DIY aesthetic of the Punk Culture of his youth, informed by Berlin subculture of the early 1990’s and coming to rest in the vernacular traditions of rural Ireland Stevens’ work proposes an inclusive straightforward approach to the production of homes.
The talk will be held in English and will take place on December13th. in the National Gallery of Art, Konstitucijos ave. 22, Vilnius.
Starts at 20:00. Entrance is free.
2016
Speaker
Dominic Stevens
How the speaker is exceptional?
I strive to make exceptional buildings that are tailored to my clients specific needs and that respond to their environments in an environmentally responsible and visually appealing way. Two recent buildings that I have completed include the “Inbetween House” near Ballinamore, County Leitrim which won a special mention in the AAI awards and has been published in magazines worldwide, including the Prestigious A+U magazine in Japan, where it was one of eight buildings featured in a special edition on Ireland and the “Mimetic house”, near Dromaheir, County Leitrim won an AAI award and has been extensively published world-wide both in prestigious architecture magazines (more than 15 in total), a number of books including the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture and in newspapers (including the New York Times and the Financial Times).
I have recently completed a new Coastguard Station for the Department of Transport in the sensitive tourist landscape of Doolin in County Clare, at the foot of the Cliffs of Moher. I was selected for this commission on the basis of my careful yet contemporary approach to designing buildings in the Irish Landscape. I was chosen to represent Ireland in the 2006 Venice Biennale of Architecture with my project FluidCity, a project which proposes a new vibrant rural/urban city along the length of the Shannon river.
I have been awarded the “Kevin Kieran Award “ by the Arts Council of Ireland and the OPW. This award of Euro 50,000.- is given to an Irish Architect every two years to carry out and publish a research project. This lead to the publication of my critically well received book RURAL in 2007 about development in rural Ireland.
As a member of the steering committee for Government Policy On Architecture (published 2009) and a member of the Strategic Policy Committee for Community, Culture and Enterprise in Leitrim County Council I am involved in strategic policy making at the highest level.
Writing in “The Full Irish – New Architecture in Ireland” Published by Princeton Architectural Press, Dr Sarah Lappin said –
“Stevens works outside the mainstream of both Irish architecture and architectural culture in general. His thinking about his practice is careful, but simultaneously rational and unusual. This alternative take on both formal decisions and his practice of architecture results in ideas that may very well have some of the strongest resonance for a new, reconfigured Ireland.”
RECOMMENDS TO READ
The Irish Review Issue 51 (Cork University Press, 2015).
Marcus Donaghy, Will Dimond
Why the book is worth reading?
The Irish Review is a refereed journal. Since it first appeared in 1986 it has provided a forum critical and creative writing in English and Irish and a space in which new debates, ideas and voices are heard across Ireland and beyond. Its editorial policy is pluralist and interdisciplinary – pluralist in its commitment to involving writers from all parts of the island and from other countries, interdisciplinary in its desire to publish articles, poetry and writing on the arts, society, philosophy, history, politics, the environment and science. The aim is to serve a general rather than a specialist readership. The Irish Review aims to promote new ways of thinking about Irish arts and culture and new ways of understanding Ireland’s history and future.
