Exhibition Runs: Open Daily Friday 24 November – Friday 1 December inclusive (closed Sunday 26 November)

With over 30 years’ experience in the creative industry, John Redmond (currently Creative Director for the Brown Thomas Group) embarks on his 2017 art exhibition Disc-O. Disc-O draws its name from the artist’s love of clean lines, discs and circles and is inspired by his travels to Asia, in particular Japan. Colour has always defined John’s work and Disc-O explores a warm and vibrant inspired palette that has a particular emotional resonance for the artist.

Disc-O will open to the public at the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, (8 Merrion Square, Dublin 2), on Friday 24 November 2017 and run until Friday 1st of December. His first exhibition (Balancing Act) was a sell-out in November 2016 and demonstrates the artist’s exuberant sense of colour and geometric precision.

Exhibition Contact: Clodagh Hannon, disc0contemporary@gmail.com | 086 852 1222

PR Contact: Caitlin Shea, cshea@kennedyprandbrand.ie | 01 4762000

Date: Friday 3 November 2017

1:10pm Planning Studio 3, UCD School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy, Richview, UCD

Speaker: Stephen Fai, Carleton Immersive Media Studio

The UCD School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy presents a research lectures series Digital Matters starting with a talk by Stephen Fai titled ‘Recent digital work at the Parliament of Canada National Historic Site’.

Stephen Fai is the director of the Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS) at Carleton University, Canada. CIMS is dedicated to the advanced study of innovative, hybrid forms of representation that can both reveal the invisible measures of architecture and animate the visible world of construction.At CIMS, Fai explores and develops digital workflows for the architecture, engineering and construction industries. His research integrates digitization, building information modelling, simulation and digitally assisted fabrication. His most recent focus is on applications of building information modelling [BIM] for architectural conservation and rehabilitation. Prof. Fai holds a cross appointment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art, and Culture, and the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism. For further information email elizabeth.shotton@ucd.ie.

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD, has announced that ‘Free Market’ will represent Ireland at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2018.

The team of co-curators behind the selection for Ireland’s national presentation is made up of the following:

• Laurence Lord (AP+E)
• Orla Murphy (Custom)
• Jeffrey Bolhuis (AP+E)
• Jo Anne Butler (Culturstruction)
• Tara Kennedy (Culturstruction)
• Miriam Delaney (DIT)

Minister Humphreys said: “The ‘Free Market’ team has proposed a very relevant exhibition on the common space of market towns in Ireland. As we know, these spaces are hugely important for rural communities in our country, and for economic and social engagement in our towns. However, this is also a theme with global resonance, and there is no doubt that the team’s research will be of interest worldwide. 2018 offers an unprecedented opportunity for contemporary Irish architecture to gain the international recognition it deserves, building on Pillar 5 of the Creative Ireland programme on unifying our global reputation.”

Ireland’s continued presence at the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2018 is bolstered by the fact that, for the first time, the curators chosen by the Biennale for the International Architecture Exhibition are Irish architects. Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects have been honoured with the task of curating the central exhibition and developing the theme which will inform all national exhibitions.

The national exhibition ‘Free Market’ is a direct response to the overarching theme of ‘Freespace’, selected by curators, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara. It will highlight the generosity, humanity and possibility in the common spaces of Ireland’s market towns. Once the economic and social hubs of rural Ireland, small town marketplaces have undergone fundamental change in recent times. Indeed, many have seen their function as places of exchange and congregation diminished. The project proposes to reclaim these places of interaction and community. It will also build on the research of the team and others, and on the lived experience of these spaces, to re-imagine the shared urban territory of the small town marketplace.

The Venice Architecture Biennale, which will be held from 26 May to 25 November 2018, remains the most important global platform for the exhibition of architecture involving the public, members of civil society, individuals and institutions.

Ireland’s exhibition at Venice is an initiative of the Culture Ireland division of Minister Humphreys’s Department, in partnership with the Arts Council. Since 2005, Culture Ireland and the Arts Council have partnered on supporting Ireland’s representation at Venice given the ongoing platform it offers artists to reach an international audience.

Ireland’s exhibition in 2018, ‘Free Market’, will tour towns in Ireland in 2019 following its presentation in Venice.

At the beginning of World War II, Belfast was thought to be out of bombing range, therefore lulling the authorities into a position of denial and naivety which ultimately resulted in the remaking of architecture and space in a hasty response (Barton, 2015, Blake, 1956 & McGimpsey, 1984). However, the protection that was constructed differed from the famous Anderson/Morrison shelters normally depicted during World War II. In Belfast, due to material shortages and the delayed reactions of air raid preparations, ‘back yard’ shelters and refuge rooms replaced these systemically produced pieces. Unique in their physical and social spaces during World War II, air raid shelters feature prominently in depictions of crowded underground stations in London. On the other hand, the history and importance of these temporary structures in Belfast are less apparent with reference to World War II and the Blitz. Using unseen archival material, as well as a series of original drawings, this article observes the peculiar position of Belfast and how the civilians were protected from aerial bombardment by communal air raid shelters.

Belfast’s state of naivety concerning an attack was shaken as the Germans continued to occupy more of France and Norway. In December 1940 the Minister of Public Security, John Clarke MacDermott initiated an immediate order for the construction of public air raid shelters. However, this plan was underfunded and only a small number of shelters were built. In Belfast there was one main type of communal shelter called a ‘backyard shelter’, but even this type had different versions that varied according to the resources available at the time. Most of the resources required to build the shelters were brick, cement and concrete, but these materials were given priority to the airfields instead (Barton, 2015, p.82).

The communal street shelters were built on a modular system, with each module containing a maximum number of 50 persons. As can be seen from figs. 02 and 03, these plans offer a number of varying arrangements to accommodate the different urban situations and restrictions. For instance, in residential areas the wide system of shelters wouldn’t be possible due to Belfast’s typically narrow residential streets. The government’s standards also dictated that there should be 75sq.ft. of combined wall, ceiling and floor area for each person sheltered (HA6/3/D274). This was to allow for condensation of moisture from the air that would otherwise become saturated. However, as Tecton Architects argued in their research in the late 1930s, the arbitrary minimum space per person and the provision of these shelters being solely for passers-by, could result in overcrowding in some areas (1941 & CAB/9CD/71/1). For example, during WWII there were instances of shelters that were designed for 300 people, but instead 3,000 attempted to take cover in a single structure and, therefore, people inside were in just as much danger as those outside.

^{Fig 02: Communal temporary air raid shelter for 50 people. Plan, elevation details, and axonometric. (Author’s own drawing).}

^{Fig 03: General arrangement plans of communal temporary air raid shelter for 50 people. (Author’s own drawing).}

The shelters were designed to provide ‘protection against anything except a direct hit’ (HA6/3/D1186, p.5). Tecton Architects (1941) argued that a ‘direct hit’ was misleading, as the public would imagine the worse case scenario of a bomb falling directly on the shelter, or in very close proximity. Nevertheless, from examining the United Kingdom Government recommendations for the spacing of shelters, Tecton discovered a bomb falling 50 feet away from the shelter could still be considered a direct hit. Also, the specifications defined by this Government lacked technical detail. In fact, the Northern Irish authorities had tested their backyard shelter for a direct hit and demonstrated failure. The stills from a film dated 1940, illustrate the various roofed backyard shelters being deliberately positioned beside an exploding bomb (as can be seen in fig. 05). The findings of this investigation were not released to the public at the time.

The backyard shelters were hastily built and unevenly distributed, as they were designed to be within a seven minute walking pace catchment areas (Glover, 1940). These catchment areas were mainly situated in the centre of the city. In comparison, London’s communal air raid shelters were placed in seven and a half minute catchment area (Tecton, 1941). Moreover, the distribution of the communal street shelters were allocated in order of accordance to a hierarchy of areas. The dense residential areas surrounding Belfast harbour were considered as important as the city centre, although these areas lacked shelters. Once again, this was due to the allocation of these structures for passers-by and, therefore, in residential areas they were over-prescribed.

^{Fig 04: Donegall Square North from the roof of the City Hall. Air raid shelters in City Hall grounds. Belfast 15/9/1942. (Belfast Telegraph Collection/NMNI).}

The air raid shelter, a typically hidden form of architecture, was as important to the war effort in the Second World War as any other air raid precaution. Even though the hastily constructed shelters were technically inadequate for their intended purpose, in Belfast they illustrated a form of protection for civilians. The reduced casualty rate of the second major air raid in Belfast clearly indicates that the shelters proved beneficial and the effects of the first air raid developed a ‘shelter conscious’ public. This link between militarism, the construction of a temporary form of architecture and the effect these spaces have on the civilian experience shows the importance of these simple structures. However, the delayed reaction and inadequate strategy of air raid protection resulted in Belfast experiencing the second greatest loss of life in a single raid on any city in the United Kingdom: a total of 758 souls.

Warfare has vastly changed since the Belfast Blitz as more recent aerial bombing have begun to use unmanned drone technology. The use of drones has increased the distance from the enemy; while studies have shown that killing becomes less emotive the further you are from your victim (Huber & Mills, 2002). According to Sven Lindqvist (2012, p. 120), drones have ‘depersonalized and dehumanized war’ and create an unemotional detachment from the violence. Moreover, the technology of bombs themselves has improved, especially with the emergence of nuclear weapons. Therefore, bombing from above has become more dangerous to the civilians below. As wars continue to flare across the globe, the question remains: how might an architecture of the future protect the lives of citizens when the destructive capabilities of warfare has the potential to consume entire cities and landscapes?

^{Fig 05: A still from a film showing testing of air raid shelters in Belfast. (Image from PRONI archive).}

^{References
Barton, B. (2015) The Belfast blitz: the city in the war years, Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation.
Blake, J.W. (1956) Northern Ireland in the Second World War, 2nd edn., Belfast: Blackwell Press.
Glover, C. W. (1941) Civil defence: a practical manual presenting with working drawings the methods required for adequate protection against aerial attack, 3 edn., London: Chapman & Hall Ltd.
Huber, P. & Mills, M. (2002) ‘How technology will defeat terrorism, City Journal, 12(1), pp. 24-34.
Lindqvist, S. (2003) A History of Bombing, New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
McGimpsey, C.D. (1984) Bombs on Belfast: the Blitz 1941: a camera record, Belfast: Pretani Press.
Tecton Architects (1941) Planned A.R.P., New York: Chemical Publishing Company.}

^{Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI):
CAB3A/5C/18A – Papers relating to Northern Ireland District
HA6/3/D274 – Air Raid Precautions Policy 1937
HA6/3/D1186 – Communal shelters}

The RIAI Build and Extend Theatre at the Permanent TSB Ideal Home Show will feature registered architects, who will be on hand to help attendees with their extend, build and renovate projects. The Ideal Home Show runs from Friday 27 to Monday 30 October in the RDS. “The permanent tsb Ideal Home Show is a great opportunity to engage with people who are thinking about building, extending or renovating their own properties”, says Kathryn Meghen, CEO of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI). She adds: “Building a new home or remodelling an existing one is a costly and complex endeavour – in addition to the finding the best design solution, there are issues such as planning, Building Regulations and compliance to be considered. Homeowners are investing time, money and their hopes and dreams into the plans for their homes. A registered architect is trained and qualified to get the right result, ensuring that money is spent wisely.”

Sandra O’Connell, Director of Architecture and Communications at the RIAI, outlines the idea behind the talks programme at the Ideal Home Show: “Nowadays our homes have to work harder for us, as homeowners have decided to remain in their homes for far longer than they used to. People are now looking for a house that will last them throughout their lives instead of moving every few years. They need to think about how flexible and adaptable their homes can be. It can be as simple as deciding that rather than have everything open-plan, they consider putting in sliding doors and partitions. That way they can have an open-plan room when the children are young but when they’re older, they can turn the open-plan into separate zones. We encourage people to think about all of these things and plan for the future.”

She says there is also the issue of young people not being able to move out and so they stay longer at their parents’ house. As a result, parents might want to convert their attic, garage or basement into a space for a student so their children can be part of the family home but still have separate lives. “That’s a very big consideration nowadays – how to make space for everyone in the house.”

The RIAI Build and Extend Theatre will show how you can get the most out of your home when extending, building and remodelling at this year’s permanent tsb Ideal Homes Show. “We have put together a great panel of experts who will provide information and inspiration as well as practice advice on how to approach a project from multiple angles such as design, life-time adaptability, planning and technical issues such as party walls. Over four days, our programme of talks will look at home improvements through extensions, renovations and remodelling,” continues Sandra O’Connell. “We will be talking about flexible and adaptable home plans which can change depending on what is needed. We show what architects offer to projects and how they can maximise the potential of the home with their design skills.”

Invaluable advice
Kathryn Meghen says the RIAI conducted a survey recently, and it showed that people didn’t realise what the possibilities were with their house until they worked with an architect. Sometimes people go to architects thinking they need a big extension and actually they just need a remodelling of their existing home space. That’s where the architect comes in and looks at it holistically.” Such advice can save both time and money, so it could be a wise move to speak to the architects that are on hand. As Kathryn concludes: “There will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions and to meet architects at the show.”

For more information visit www.idealhome.ie and visit the RIAI Build and Extend Theatre while at the show.

Read more about the RIAI Architects taking part in our programme of talks and interviews below. We have included email addresses for the ones with stands if you would like to book a consultation at the show with them:

Eva Byrne – houseology MRIAI Architect and House Consultant. Eva Byrne is an Architect, House Consultant and Interiorista based in Dublin. She specialises in 2 hour consultations to help clients make the most of space, light and storage in their homes. Her website includes lots of advice and tips about all matters relating to house design houseology.ie  [K18].

Gareth Brennan (Brenna Furlong Architects), MRIAI Architect. Having graduated from University College Dublin in 2001, Gareth worked with a number of architectural practices in Dublin before establishing Gareth Brennan Architects in 2009. A member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland since 2008, Gareth, along with Seamus Furlong, formed Brennan Furlong Architects & Urban Planners in 2015. http://brennanfurlong.ieColm Nolan Founded his practice Circa Design in 2004 which has offices in Dublin and Wexford. Colm has over 20 years’ experience managing a wide variety of architectural contracts from initial design to completion. Colm holds an overall managing brief for planning & implementation of strategic goals and Managing client relationships. www.circadesign.ie  [M82].

Paul Keenan is a founding Director of Keenan Lynch Architects. Paul is a fellow of the RIAI AND holds a Diploma in Arbitration. Paul has designed and overseen the construction of numerous projects. Interests include sustainability and conservation, in which he has a Grade 3 Accreditation. Paul Technical Assessor for the Architects Registration Boar. Paul is also a Director with KLP Building Surveyors and Mypartywall. www.kla.ie [L83].

Fergus Flanagan is an Architect with over 14 years experience and has worked on projects in Germany, Switzerland the UK and Ireland. He has worked for many award winning Architectural practices & has been part of many winning design teams. He himself has won many competitions throughout his career. www.fergusflanaganarchitects.ie  [O60].

Jackson Groarke Architects was founded by Greg Jackson MRIAI and Donal Groarke MRIAI in 2013.  Máirtín D’Alton MRIAI became a Director in 2015. Jackson + Groarke is a ‘Housing First’ design studio with research interests in collaborative design, digital fabrication and architectural conservation. The Director’s broad skill-sets encompass design, finance, construction, digital fabrication, property development, project management, conservation, environmental design, academia, regional development and housing strategic policy.  http://www.jacksongroarke.com  [N82]

Carol Ryan -  CR Architecture was established in 2010 and is located close to Smithfield Square in Dublin 7. Carol has many years experience in home development works and try to minimise frustration by offering clear guidance at every stage of the project. Carol Ryan is an RIAI registered architect and has Grade III Conservation accreditation. www.crarch.ie.

Paula Murphy is the principal of Paula M Murphy Architects based in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. She has been a practising Architect for 30 years. She specialises in domestic, small commercial and medical projects and roughly 25% of her work is on Conservation led projects together with a number of interior design projects. Paula M Murphy Architects pride themselves on individual one on one service.

Fergal McGirl is a grade 2 conservation architect based in Dublin and has additional qualifications in project management having completed the RIAI Built Environment Project Management Course & PMP certification/membership of Project Management International. He has also completed various courses in sustainability and building energy efficiency including commercial & domestic energy rating assessments. http://fmgarchitects.ie.

Date: Friday 10 November, 9.00 am

Westport Study Day 2017: celebrating 250 years of the Browne family and the town of Westport.

The Irish Georgian Society and Mayo County Council, in association with Westport Historical Society and Westport Tourism, are partnering to deliver a study day which will celebrate the history and heritage of Westport House and its planned Georgian town. 250 years ago Peter Browne of Westport House placed an advertisement in the Dublin Faulkner’s Journal, on St. Patrick’s Day 1767, advertising for tradesmen to construct the new town of Westport, and so began the genesis of one of Ireland’s greatest pieces of Georgian town planning.

Among the speakers will be Dr Martin Mansergh, who will talk on the Act of Union. Dr Gordon Kennedy, will discuss the Browne’s of Westport House 1780 -1830. Dr Eamon O Flaherty will speak on town planning in the Age of Enlightenment, and will also introduce the RIA’s Irish Historic Towns Atlas for Westport. Áine Doyle will discuss Westport’s Holy Trinity Church. Lunch will be included, and bookings are through the Irish Georgian Society website.

Full programme available here.

To round off the 2017 New Now Next series, Merritt Bucholz and Karen McEvoy co-founders of Bucholz McEvoy Architects, will present on Wednesday 1 November at 6.30pm in The Royal Irish Academy.

Bucholz McEvoy Architects’ major built works include Fingal County Hall, Limerick County Council Headquarters, Westmeath County Council Headquarters and Library, Elm Park mixed use development, and the Samuel Beckett Civic Campus. Bucholz McEvoy Architects are noted for award-winning low energy designs, and have twice represented Ireland at the Architecture Biennale in Venice.

New Now Next, the IAF’s popular architecture talks series, is back for a fifth year. Curated by the Irish Architecture Foundation and sponsored by ARUP, the purpose of this free event is to bring inspirational speakers to Dublin to excite and inspire audiences who are interested in the design and construction of buildings and cities. It’s about disseminating NEW ideas, regarding contemporary issues relevant NOW that can impact on the sustainability of NEXT generations.

​To book your place visit www.architecturefoundation.ie.

Public
The 22nd edition of Building Material seeks papers on the theme of the public in architecture.

Architecture is a public affair, its impact shared if not always evenly distributed. The vacillating boundaries of what constitutes public life, public realm or the ‘public interest’ are forever a contested space in which the ideologies of architecture are made explicit. A public act most commonly commissioned by private parties, the design and realisation of the built environment requires a reciprocity between collective and individual needs that often results in complex relationships of competing interests. The question, perhaps, is where does the public aspect of architecture reside and how might it be calibrated?

Topics for consideration may include (but would not be limited to):
How do contemporary discourses in practice, theory, pedagogy or media embody the various public attributes of architecture?
How has the public realm (spatial, legal, political, etc.) changed through history and how has this impacted the built environment?
How might a public of architects (in the sense of a body/collective other than the standards of professional affiliation) be defined and what might be its potential?
How are ideas of collective need or common good expressed in the role of the architect?
Can a public be constituted that is meaningfully inclusive of minorities in society?

Building Material 22 invites submissions that explore the range of architectural possibilities inherent within the word ‘public’ in Ireland and elsewhere. Submitted articles must not have been published, nor be under consideration for publication, either online or in print. Written submissions should be a maximum of 4000 words and should be analytical and critical rather than descriptive. While inviting submission of academic papers, it also seeks and encourages interesting essays that fall beyond the academic pale. Shorter articles are welcome, as are graphic works.

Building Material is a peer reviewed journal and all submissions shall be assessed by two independent reviewers. Submissions not intended for peer-review are also welcome. A distinction will be made between peer-reviewed research articles and other material.

Completed articles should be addressed to the editor(s) by 02 March 2018. To facilitate the process of double-blind peer review, please ensure that all contact details are contained in a covering email and that authors’ identifying details are not included in the article file.

Acceptance decisions will be communicated by 30 March 2018. Articles should be prepared in MS Word, double-spaced at a minimum 11-point font size. Notes should adopt the UWA Oxford Referencing style, as outlined via this linked document. Single quotation marks should be used throughout. Image files should be formatted as individual jpg files at 300dpi.

Informal queries regarding submission may be addressed to the editor(s).

All submissions and correspondence should be addressed to buildingmaterial@architecturalassociation.ie.

Previous issues of Building Material are now available to view on JSTOR.

Building Material is an annual architecture journal, joint published by the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI), the All-Ireland Architecture Research Group (AIARG), and the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF).

British artist Grayson Perry once described his visit to a Rococo church as analogous to a fish swimming into God’s coral reef.[1] The experience operated on him in a bodily way: the space shook him. It comes as perhaps no large surprise then to summarise Perry’s oeuvre for the reader as a celebration of decoration and ornament through narrative and craft. Consciously operating somewhere stylistically between twee and kitsch, Perry is known for his ceramic pots and tapestries, but more recently he has begun to dabble in documentaries and architecture in his pursuit to aggravate British notions of good taste. Perry’s foray into architectural production was a collaboration with the now dissolved British practice FAT (Fashion Architecture Taste), themselves provocateur’s of the establishment in their loud rejection of conventional aesthetics (Fig 6). A subversion and rejection of the dominant taste values of the educated cultural elite is a theme that both practitioners pursue, but its presence is especially felt in this shared project, where the expression of a fictional human life is narrated across the surfaces of the house in a polyphony of tiles, with individually adhered nipples (Fig 3), tapestries detailing a tragically vulgar[2] existence and a crayon colour palette in the interior. The ‘House for Essex’ (Fig 1) is then a bonkers lovechild of art and architecture: fusing the two cultural practices together in a contemporary gesamkunstwerk. It is the built ambition of Perry’s vision for a secular chapel that might both express something of our culture and induce an emotional experience in the visitor akin to Perry’s own memory as a fish amongst the coquille of God’s rococo reef.

The overwhelming cacophony of visual stimuli in the house is perhaps more usefully read as a series of narrative surfaces; a ‘built story’[3] that communicates Perry’s own personal polemic through fictional analogy. In a discussion at the ICA, Perry alluded to his thoughts on the relationship between people and their environment in stating, ‘humans are all about stories, buildings tell stories.’[4] Thus we can read the artist’s tapestries, pots and this jewel-box of a building as continuing with a historic tradition of depicting human action through narrative surfaces.

In Perry’s work there is a telling ambiguity between myth, fairy tale and allegory in the fictional characters and tales he weaves. The narrative of the house is the story of the fictional protagonist, Julie Cope, who is both social archetype, as the ‘Essex everywoman’, and reincarnation of a recurring theme close to Perry’s own experience: that of a person on a journey of progress through the social strata of modern British society.[5] In this way the house is simultaneously fiction and autobiography; resonating, for me, as an enactment of Hannah Arendt’s notion of the importance of inserting ‘one’s self into the world’ to begin ‘a story of one’s own’[6] (Fig 2).

^{Fig 2: The Walthamstow Tapestry, charts the life and death of an individual.}

The House, as a tribute to Julie, therefore contains the story of her life. This narrative of a human life is told through the liberal use of carefully situated objects, designed by Perry and spatially accommodated by FAT, into a sort of memory palace[7] (Fig 7). For FAT this use of decoration in design is a radical statement about the capacity for communication through architecture, where ornament and symbolism are used to tell a rich and complex story.

^{Fig 3: External tiling dedicated to Julie.}

The exterior of the House is lined with tiles signifying aspects of Julie’s life, while figurative totems, including a functioning chimney, adorn the stepping roofscape. The interior space reads like the interiority of Perry’s mind, with illustrated panels, decorated pots and large objects of signification all squeezed into the visitor’s gaze. The careful curation of so much bling is the conscious expression of the ability of both artist and architect in engaging with the language of objects. The use of objects in the communication of an individual’s identity is something that both practitioners explore in practice, probably most notably in Perry’s transvestism embracing ‘taste safari’[8] for Channel 4, ‘All in the Best Possible Taste’.[9]

^{Fig 4: Ceramic deity of Julie.}

Where Perry often talks about social groups as ‘tribes’, FAT use the American social critic Herbert Gans’ term ‘taste cultures’[10] to describe the values and standards of taste and aesthetics across society. An analysis of objects through the lens of taste and class seems to help Perry and FAT gain an understanding of people, through their identification with particular taste cultures.

Embroiled in privilege and class, the question of taste in cultural production is often an awkward topic, however both Perry and FAT are unashamedly brash in seeking to expose the ‘scandal of good taste’[11] in rejecting hierarchical systems of taste cultures. Where traditionally the high culture of an educated social elite is seen to have more symbolic value than popular and outsider cultures, Perry and FAT seek to engender a pluralism or democracy of taste tribes in their practice.

^{Fig 5: Side view of the House for Essex.}

Therefore the House can be understood as the collaborative zenith of ideas about the attribution of certain taste and class values to cultural objects. It is itself a startling object in the landscape, a beacon of the urban art-school aesthetic transplanted into the countryside from the imagination and purse-strings of London’s artistic ‘chattering class’.[12] Yet it is filled to bursting with objects that represent aspects of a fictional, yet archetypal, identity of a working class woman from Essex valorised to the level of a local goddess (Fig 4). The Russian doll motif used in the formal progression of spaces is thus mimicked in the project’s layering of conceptual signification (Fig 5).

In the House for Essex we read the use of decoration in both delighting and antagonising the cultural classes. Its walls read as pages of a fictional autobiography, but also, more importantly, as an allegory of good and bad taste[13] in British class society. The project is enriched, rather than limited, through embracing the tensions inherent in a critical architecture that engages in socio-political issues. Thus this serious play of architecture, art and ornament might be both appropriate and fanciful in its imaginative exuberance.

^{Fig 6: Interior view of the living room.}

^{1: ICA, ‘What is the use of ornament in contemporary art?’, 2011, London. Online recorded lecture on YouTube featuring Sam Jacobs, Grayson Perry and Charles Jencks. Accessed 2016.}

^{2: Taking the original definition of vulgar as simply a synonym for common or popular. Its meaning has since evolved to include suggestions of excessive bad taste, closely associated with the devaluing of the common classes.}

^{3: Bevan, Robert, ‘EXCLUSIVE: Grayson Perry and architects FAT design “A House for Essex”‘, Evening Standard, 15 May 2015. Accessed 29 October 2016. http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/design/grayson-perry-and-architects-fat-design-a-house-for-essex-10252424.html.}

^{4: Perry, Grayson, ‘Taste is woven into our class system.’, The Telegraph, 15 June 2013. Accessed 15 October 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10117264/Grayson-Perry-Taste-is-woven-into-our-class-system.html.}

^{5: ICA, ‘What is the use of ornament in contemporary art?’, 2011, London. Online recorded lecture on YouTube featuring Sam Jacobs, Grayson Perry and Charles Jencks. Accessed 2016.}

^{6: Arendt, Hannah, The Human Condition, 2nd ed., London/Chicago, Ill, University of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 193.}

^{7: Phrasing taken from previous readings of Yates, Frances A., The Art of Memory, London, Pimlico, 1992 and Hollis, Edward, The Memory Palace: A Book of Lost Interiors, London, Portobello Books, 2014.}

^{8: ‘taste safari’ is used by Perry in desribing his immersive experience on the show where he lives with families of different classes, dressing in their ‘tribal’ uniforms and taking part in their activities.}

^{9: Channel 4 is an independant broadcaster on UK television which sets itself as an alternative to BBC and ITV in producing shows of interest to minority groups.}

^{10: Gans, Herbert J., Popular culture and high culture: An analysis and evaluation of taste, New York, Basic books, 1974.}

^{11: Phrasing taken from Barbican, The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, October 2016 – February 2017. ‘Vulgarity exposes the scandal of good taste’ – Adam Phillips (co-curator).}

^{12: Perry describes the audience at an event at the ICA as the ‘North London Chattering Classes’. ICA, ‘What is the use of ornament in contemporary art?’, 2011, London. Online recorded lecture on YouTube featuring Sam Jacobs, Grayson Perry and Charles Jencks. Accessed 2016.}

^{13: This is a nod to the Sala dei Nove in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena, depicting the Allegory of Good and Bad Governance by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (13th Century).}

PLACE is delighted to be presenting the third annual Open House Belfast Architecture & Engineering Festival from 27 – 29 October which opens up some of the city’s most interesting and exciting buildings and spaces for you to experience, free of charge.

The aim of the festival is to highlight and celebrate well designed architecture and engineering in the city, and engage with the public, to initiate discussion about the impact of good design in our lives.

This year the festival has been extended to include a third day, spreading out the programme and allowing more time to get to more events.

PLACE have organised the programme into three categories; Buildings, Engineering Projects and Special Events. Some of our favourite buildings are returning to the programme, such as; Transport House, The former Belfast Telegraph building and The Strand Arts Centre while engineering projects will include; The Lagan Weir and Tunnel and Translink’s train maintenance and training facility.

Open House Belfast are showcasing some really innovative new developments like; Cullingtree Meadows Dementia Care Facility and Ormeau Baths entrepreneurial hub, and we have secured access to grand and iconic buildings like; The former Bank of Ireland on Royal Avenue and Laganview House.  Some architects and designers will invite you into their offices, studios and workshops to see how they work, and our special events will include accessing the heights of the Lanyon building at Queen’s University to see the conservation brick work they are undertaking, and a walk around North Belfast’s ‘Cultural Corridor’.

Booking goes live on Friday 20 October. To see the full programme visit www.openhousebelfast.org.