Urgency: Radical Thinking, Transformative Action  

Tolka Valley  

​

To achieve lasting change, a culture change is needed in both the professional institutions and in higher education itself. Architecture is often still taught as it was decades ago, with little content or pedagogical renewal to engage with issues such as building performance, social and organizational value, occupant agency and potential adaptation in a changing climate.  The urgency and complexity of responding to the climate crisis requires a true collaborative effort between different professions, in practice and also in education.   

Accelerating Change in Architectural Education 

Sofie Pelsmakers, Fionn Stevenso

​

​

​

Welcome to 2023 exhibition of 5th year architecture and 4th year architecture technology programme. Within our newly formed School of Architecture, Building and Environment (SABE), our two final years in Architecture and Architectural Technology have worked together on a common theme and place to make proposals that address social, environmental and economic issues at macro and micro scale. We joined forces to collaborate and to share our knowledge, competencies and skills to transform the way we create.  The theme of the year aimed to highlight the urgency for new ways of thinking and working as discussed by Sofie Pelsmaker and Fionn Stevenson, and we wanted to avoid black and white dichotomies that can occur when striving to address issues of climate agenda. 

In the first half of the year, using Tolka Valley, North Dublin as their testing ground, our final year B Arch and BSc Arch Tech students and staff worked collaboratively in a ‘mini-office’ format. The work began by thematic desk studies that formed the foundation of the work that followed. Moving closer, they engaged with local stakeholders, agencies, experts and the City Council (even contributing to the public consultation for Ballyboggan area plan) to tease out the complex forces at play for the diverse communities living there. They made imaginative future projections for the area based on their initial research, before identifying locations for intervention through architectural proposal as part of a design team. These designs offer space for addressing key issues of public interest in Tolka Valley – access to housing, work, culture, education, health, food, and so on – and are motivated by a strong social and environmental aspiration.  The speculative and final designs from the collaboration are exhibited as part of this exhibition.  

In second half of the semester, students delve into their individual thesis projects. For most, the individual thesis work stemmed from observations, concerns and exploration that they carried out as part of a team. The research work undertaken is diverse and instigate new ways of thinking about our built environment. This exhibition on ground floor represents an edited version of a larger folio of research in architecture and architectural technology carried out by students. The full exhibition of the student’s thesis projects is exhibited in Studio 6 (Architectural Technology) on second floor and studio 2 (Architecture) on third floor of Linenhall. 

We would like to congratulate our students on their achievements this year and wish them every success in the future. We hope you enjoy the work. 

Sima Rouholamin and David Knight