Portfolio
“Not only is another world possible. She is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing” Arundhati Roy
Architect | Interior architect | Conceptualist
3.
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2.
5. DIA- Dessau International school of architecture- Semester 7 project- The Anatomy of creative quarters Feeding Tacheles, Led by Professor Johannes Kister and Professor Liss C. Werner.
4. Urbanism Project and “Third Landscape” Elective- Burgazada,Istanbul,Led by Professor Andrea Haase
3. DIA - Dessau International school of architecture - Semester 8 ProjectMaximum city : Istanbul Porous densification,Led by Professor Omar Akbar
2. Photography elective at SAUL , Led by Anna Ryan.
1. SAUL - School of Architecture at the University of Limerick - Thesis Project May 2012 Reclaiming constructed wilderness Advisors : Merritt Bucholz, Peter carroll, Anna ryan, Tom Moylan, Irénée Scalbert, Caelan Bristow. Thesis project is followed by four primer projects carried out over the course of the year exploring various ideas linked to my intellectual thinking.
Úna Breathnach hIfearnáin-Curriculum Vitae
11. proffessional experience samples Bucholz mc evoy Architects,Berlin,Germany. MCXVI Architects, Budapest, Hungary. Taylor Architects,Ireland.
10. Institute of technology sligo - Interior architecture projects
9. UU- School of Architecture at the University of Ulster, Belfast.Semester 3 Projects- Housing, Led by Saul Golden.
8. UU- School of Architecture at the University of Ulster, Belfast. Semester 4 Project- Landscape and detail, Led by Saul Golden. Included following this project is a short project looking at an intervention for reuse in an existing market hall in Belfast.
7. SAUL- School of Architecture at the University of Limerick- Semester 5 Project- Social club - How can I make a place dance, Led by Jan Frohburg, Simon Walker and Maria o’Donoghue
6. SAUL- School of Architecture at the University of Limerick- Semester 6 Project - Public House - Artisan bakery in the city, Led by Jan Frohburg, Simon Walker and Maria o’Donoghue
1. Thesis Project “Highly recommended� accolade Reclaiming | Constructed Wilderness A place for living , growing , educating and discussing
My thesis entitled, “Reclaiming | constructed Wilderness� looks simultaneously
I read a number of sources around the topic which I was studying and analysed
at the notion of wilderness and of the construction and preservation of such
these sources in order to define the exact problems to which I was going to
to create a better reality for our country through proposed architectural
try to find some form of solution; in the execution of my design project and
intervention. In my thesis I analysed my interests in architecture and those in
throughout my process. The final paper goes through my theoretical written
general, relating to and looking at the relationship of nature and architecture;
idea and also aims to illustrate and annotate my design process. Finally it shows
at places constructed by man which were inevitably being reclaimed by the
the drawings and architectural models which I constructed to represent my final
overpowering force of nature. I am fascinated by the edges of our architectural
thesis design proposal and physical representation of the theoretical standing.
interventions, of the boundaries that they create within the context of their siting and how we can blur such so that we may achieve a symbiotic relationship with nature.
My thesis project is about using architecture to reclaim wilderness in a place which seems natural but in truth is created from a number of unnatural processes, sited to the West of Limerick city within the Irish cement factory compound my project emerges from the soil. The buildings act as a new topography on the site, one to be walked over; to allow people to experience what is there in a new way. They also act as a framework for nature and would allow for the eventual reclamation of wilderness on the site, thus giving it back to nature.
The final aim being that the project acts as a critique of those places where we ordinarily wouldn’t or couldn’t live or inhabit; to site something in a place which seems natural but that is created from a number of unnatural processes. The result of this thesis and research I find categorically lies in ways to deal with disused industrial space and abused sites within our country. It looks at using a new method of constructing a topography of place that will heal the damage which has been done to the site on which it is located. To use architecture as a tool for nourishment of land in collaboration with that which we perceive as wilderness, that can reclaim the framework of architecture and through its disintegration create a new reality of place.
Through creating a new reality of place I hope to create a sort of metabolic architecture which at the point of reclamation or disintegration mutates into something new; something different and cleanses and heals its site in the process.
“Not only is another world possible. She is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.”
Arundhati Roy
Preface to the drawings and to the project
Architecture
for me means to shelter
,
I
to enclose to delineate
would like to create a new sort of world there, a
one space from another by means of division and simultaneous
microcosm: a place in which people may live in a new way. In close
connection.
proximity to water and in direct contact with the land on which
Connections
of places and of boundaries that previous
to its resurrection are unimaginable, Impossible even.
Architecture
the project as proposed shall sit. It will look to creating a
needs to not only be placed on a site and to address the site
number of climate zones and buildings in the form of skins which act
but to sit within a site to be part of that very site. a parasitic
as shelter for the inhabitants. It will open up this cul de sac
entity which not only takes from its host but feeds it.
in the city to the people of the city and others.
The
project
will take hints from the architecture of early settlement and of
I
am fascinated by the notion of wilderness of the natural
hedgerows as a way of dividing space.. It will create a path, an
unnatural that exists all around us today as a result of mans
inhabited one.
intervention and natures ever overpowering ability to reclaim that
collective experience will be had, one where a notion of a forum
which is built upon it.
for discussion and interaction will be to the forefront.
Constructed
wilderness
fascinates me and the possibility
of intervening in such a reality and creating a new, which meshes together architecture and landscape in symbiosis with one another
I city, at there
,
am proposing a new living place and extension to
Castlemungret ,
co.
Limerick. The
.
Limerick
site which exists
within a cement factory compound is one of many overlaid
layers of man-made landscape.
With
a man-made lake, a
quarry, a motorway tunnel which slices through the site, a waste water treatment plant
Shannon
to the
,
North.
a cement plant and bordered by the river
Living
in this place will mean a both individual and
My
final project arrived at a design which negotiated
between the site and that of a new topography on the ground.
Buildings
were set up as framework
for both nature and inhabitation, a framework to be walked on and one which would both allow and foster growth within it.
Overall Final Presentation
Timber sectional model through site | scale 1:200
The buildings site, one to
act as a new topography on the be walked over to allow people to
experience what is there in a new way.
They
also
act as a framework for nature and would allow for the eventual reclamation of wilderness on the site, thus giving it back to nature.
The
project acts as a critique of those places
where we ordinarily wouldnt or couldnt live or
inhabit: to site something in a place which seems natural but that is created from a number of unnatural processes.
map of shannon estuary with projected future
Map of Ireland showing geographical location
site in relation to limerick city
1840
1938
1950
1987
2002
2012
2052
drawings of process of sites anatomical creation
model of building on reed bed | scale 1:500
Plan of building on reed bed & sketch planning | scale 1:500
Plan of building at disused quarry & sketch planning | scale 1:500
Photos of site model details | scale 1:1000
Plan of building on water & sketch planning | scale 1:500
Photos of Site model details | scale 1:1000
section through building on reed bed | Scale 1:100
sketch sectional model of building | scale 1:50
sketch of Detail
sketch model of building | scale 1:1000
Site plan of proposal in context | Scale 1:2500
perspective-photomontages of process of movement through site.
A
narrative of the place
People live there, people live in the land and on the land, they harvest and learn from the land on which they dwellits a warm protective place, but also a place where one can get in direct contact with nature in a number of different ways.
I arrive by boat to a timber plinth a threshold from water to land, it is wet the timber glistens from the fresh rain on its surface. I hear the wind rustling through the bed of rushes which protect the edge of the water, and trees planted like a collinade protect me from the wind. I walk inside a skin like blanket, I feel as if a coat has been draped on my shoulders, I see the sky dappled now ,but also feel safe as if within.
surface above, I can see a topography ahead of me, undulating from the surface of the earth.
I can hear the rain fall on the
I walk along I discover some places within the land, their thresholds are barely legible, distorted by the wilderness entering inside. I follow a path created by the shaping within the land. I find a place sunken in which I can sleep it
perspective-photomontages of process of movement through site.
is small, perfectly proportioned to my bed I feel as if Im within a blanket, inhabiting the skin of the building. I can smell trees, I feel safe, . The smell of food wafts by my face. I awaken and meander through the enclosure. The food comes from the gardens. We harvest it and we process that which needs it on the outer shell of the building. We sell some of the food, some of us research its attributes and work on
developing new crops which may be planted here. We only eat that which we have on site, we smell the produce, we see it grow , we work with it and it becomes part of us and part of the enclosure. The enclosure is somewhat blurred; the growth enters inside and we penetrate the shell to move outside. We become part of the growth and
that becomes part of us. I move along hedgerows and walk to the edge of the water. I use a wooden jug to take water from the lake to use for washing the food. I walk through a number of thresholds to bring the water to the market side. I spill some now. I look down the water is rolling along the timber and then disappears down through the thresholds between the spaces
perspective-photomontages of process of movement through site.
sliding over the edge and dripping through to the reed bed below. Children play along the water and watch as their parents collect it for farming they grow up respecting and understanding its potential and value. They learn in some of the enclosures, learning is linked to libraries with information held in books but more importantly to physical
attributes,
the water, the soil, the presence of manmade things, the scarred edge of the quarry. They learn by smell, taste, touch, sight and sound. They learn in relation to those who research and produce. They are nurtured by the land within the enclosure and they therefore respect and nurture it.
Sometimes people arrive here and events are hosted by us however the skins of enclosure allows for expansion to such so that no further extension is needed to house such events. The people come and are filtered into the enclosures and along the paths created by the structure. They act as transitory parasites to the site which hosts them . The people who come symbiotically mesh into an ephemeral existence on site and
then once again leave, having not affected what is there. It is as if the site opens its pores and allows inhabitation within them if only for awhile.
timber development idea sketches The buildings or skins act only as a filter to the site, to allow those who live there whether permanently or in a transitory manner to inhabit the topography as shaped by them. to sit within the layers of skin and to create a new reality on the site that of a fourth landscape, that of a natural unnatural, a framework for life of people and finally for reclamation of wilderness.
photos of detail model | Scale 1:20
Detailed plan of living area | scale 1:100
site plan of proposal | scale 1:1000
section of project | scale 1:20
photos of detail model | scale 1:20
section through building at quarry | scale 1:500
section through building at waters edge | scale 1:500
Perspective of entire proposal on site | NTS
photos of sectional model through site | scale 1:200
photos of sketch building model| scale 1:1000
longitudinal section through site | scale 1:500
model of entire site proposal | scale 1:2500
photo of model of building on reed bed | scale 1:500
My work in the design @ UL exhibition
5m perspective in the making
My sketch of the final presentation
Perspective of entire proposal on site | NTS
Rossport bay , Co. Mayo, Ireland. Eco forum and protective device
Primer Projects looking at various sites and realities leading up to the final project.
Final primer project at the end of semester one, looking at a mechanism made from timber to open and to close the bay and to collect and deposit debris to shield against erosion caused by the large stinger ships.
ﾃ（lle Bﾃ｡n, Silver strand, Co. Galway. a protective mechanism to an eroding cliff face
M贸in Al煤ine, Bog of Allen, co. Offaly. A regenerative blanket cover mechanism on a depleting vast bogland.
Shannon Estuary project
A monitoring blanket - an undulating timber framework for living to spread over the land, over time disintegrating and renourishing.
In this project I looked at exploring a natural unnatural boundary in Shannon
I explored the idea of what it means to live and to die so I looked at the cycle
on the constructed edge of water to land. In my project I looked at creating
of the site from its conception, the drainage of the land, the planting of the
a blanket over the land which would nourish it; to monitor it. To look at
protective band of poplar trees, the intervention and creation of the first portion
temperature , rainfall and collection of energy.
of blanket, the growing and expanding of the system over time and the final
It explored the notion of living on the edge and of living under a blanket cover as
disintegration of the timber structures and the renourishment of the land which
created by this undulating, energy generating timber cover.
has been damaged over time and by human use.
What does it mean to monitor? Monitoring changes in temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind, wave strength.
WIND
Monitoring the edge;the boundary, and re-stitching it with a blanket of monitoring. One which starts to allow for an alternative way of living and of INHABITING space.
WIND/WATER ~Waves
Generating wind and hydro power Collecting and storing rainwater for soil irrigation Measuring soil temperature and humidity of soil.
To think of this as a new landscape, athough artificial like that of the Poplars but, one that rots and then nutrifies the land.
WIND power collection at base of every station to travel from one to another over a network, which can be tapped into if required for inhabitation.
HYDRO power collection at base of every station to travel from one to another over a network.
WIND
WIND/WATER ~Waves
WIND/WATER ~Rain
h artificial like en nutrifies the
WIND power collection at base of every station to travel from one to another over a network, which can be tapped into if required for inhabitation.
HYDRO power collection at base of every station to travel from one to another over a network.
RAIN water collection built into every station through the central pipe in the assembly acting as a channel to percolation tanks, which can act as irrigation to the land.
2. Photography elective at SAUL , Led by Anna Ryan.
Through the medium of SLR photography, we studied the condition of Irish sea side resorts in Winter. I used this elective to explore man made additions to the coast which had been reclaimed or altered by nature and its processes in keeping with my thesis research.
The resulting photographs of which here are some; showed an interest in the materiality and texture of objects which are beginning to disintegrate or be reclaimed due to the overpowering force of nature or wilderness.
3. DIA - Dessau International school of architecture - Semester 8 Project- Maximum city : Istanbul Porous densification,Led by Professor Omar Akbar
The purpose of the Studio was to analyse and collate information on maximum
The solution was to come up with ideas for the integration of all members of
cities and then to select on city to be visited and examined in further detail for
society and proposals to keep and also demolish parts of the urban fabric and
those things symptomatic of such a large urban expanse.
to inject a more cohesive and dense urbanism there to replace what exists.
We looked at Istanbul a city which is continually growing, we observed the fact
I looked at a strategy which I called “Porous densification� ; In this I removed
that gentrification was undoubtedly taking part in those oldest areas of the city
some of the older derelict buildings and kept some others and added a greater
and a phenomenon taking place in many cities in the world was also appearing
area of housing and some community facilities and workshop spaces to allow
there that of the creative quarters in which artists inhabit derelict city spaces
both communities to exist side by side. The porosity resulted in green space
and make them more attractive so that they finally result in gentrifying the
and spaces for growing food crops within the now dense urban fabric.
areas thus pushing slum areas next to those most desirable the problem being that the poorest are given the least attention in such a scenario and their sense of community is entirely disrupted if not lost.
4. Urbanism Project and “Third Landscape” ElectiveBurgazada,Istanbul,Led by Professor Andrea Haase
FERRY BUILDING
FERRY TEMPORARY BUILDINGS
PORT
the mimetic bridge Ephemeral Access FERRY
RIE OF N
N OF TR
AVEL OF
TIO
ECTIO
EC
ENT DIR
ARRIV ALS
IR
CURR
TR
AV E
LO
FF
ER
The Proposal
RR
EN
realities which are evident .This bridging device is a somewhat ,delicate
TD
due to cultural variations which exist there. There is a simultaniety of disparate
S
The concept is based on the ever changing situations which occur in Turkey
CU
intervention which bridges from the port to the nature : as if it were peeling back from the edge of the island. It begins with an element , a PORT peeling back to the coastal edge, which then transforms into a surface application and
CURRENT FERRY STATION LOCATION
arrangement of some small TEMPORARY STRUCTURES which divide to
sw
three PATHS which lead through the island moving by businesses and other PREV AILI
NG
WIN
D
facilities alike and finally reach the walking trails to connect the user back to the nature, as if subconsciously. This intervention should be uninvasive and give a suggestion of a new reality there.
FERRY FERRY BUILDING
FERRY DROP OFF PICK UP POINT
TEMPORARY BUILDINGS
The form of the port is decided based on the wind direction, the port sweeps toward the wind and somehow shelters the ferry station from waves, the port becomes a new docking point for smaller boats and offers a new type of public social space for the visitors but, also more importantly for the residents. It allows
DOCKING POINT FOR SMALLER BOATS
AT
UR
E
for the turning circle of the ferry and allows for some sheltered docking for ING T LE AD YS WA TH PA
delicate perched over and coming from the water.
ON
smaller boats due to its configuration which is also appearing as something quite
Injected Breathing Space
“The Third Landscape - an undetermined fragment of the Planetary Garden -designates the sum of the space left over by man to landscape evolution - to nature alone.� Gilles Clement
The THIRD LANDSCAPE exists in intervened places, It is a landscape of higher diversity than the second. Its starts to try to reintroduce a first landscape. It exists in both shrinking cities and in metropolis. It is somewhere in between the urban and the rural. It looks at the idea of bringing the village back to the cities. Of reintroducing a higher diversity.
I am proposing three types of intervention which I will briefly illustrate. The importance of all is the reintroduction or addition of a new form of bio-diversity which would add to the appeal of living on the island long term as a resident as a sort of a microcosm where health prevails.
The third landscape may be likened to a reservoir carrying all genetic configurations in itself, the Third Landscape represents the biological future. An introduction of even one element of nature builds an eco system. In any case, the
1.
Third Landscape can be understood as part of our living environment not based on a conscious decision so my intervention is also in a way unconscious.
INTERVENTIONS
2.
1. DIVERSIFYING THE WATERS EDGE.
intervention 1
3. 2. DIVERSIFYING UNUSED EMPTY BUILDINGS AND INBETWEEN SPACES.
intervention 2
3. 3. DIVERSIFYING THE EDGE OF RURAL AND URBAN.
2.
1.
intervention 3
5. DIA- Dessau International school of architectureSemester 7 project- The Anatomy of creative quarters Feeding Tacheles, Led by Professor Johannes Kister and Professor Liss C. Werner.
The aim of the studio was to look at and to understand the anatomy of a creative
the inhabitants have built some make shift studios and galleries, there is a lack
quarter and to use that intellect to intervene to create a new creative quarter or
of infrastructure and the adjoining residents do not feel ownership towards it
to update one already existing. In every creative quarter there is a sine qua non
because it is dirty and unsanitary in nature.
that exists which feeds this idea of creativity. In my opinion the particular type of anatomy or characteristic really effects the quarter and the way in which such
My concept arrived from my site analysis, I identified problems in Tacheles and
operates.
instead of creating a new creative quarter I wanted to nourish this existing one; to Feed Tacheles. This concept of feeding is something which stuck true to my
The gap I chose to deal with was not an entirely empty one. I chose a place which
project from the very first day and I think it truly helped me to conclude my
I had observed for some time as an existing creative quarter which was in need
design of this scheme.
of some sort of ingredient which would bring it back to its original spontaneity. I chose Kunsthaus Tacheles, which originally was the Friedrich-passage, a ruin building inhabited by international artists since the fall of the Berlin wall. However, it is in quite bad repair, particularly that of the back yard space where
The program I initially intended for was to add some infrastructure which would quite literally Feed Tacheles but, the idea matured from this point into Feeding of course as intended but, also in some other ways. I had researched the history of the site and I wanted to somehow reintroduce the idea of a passage into the site. I also had researched those anatomies already existent on the site and I wanted to work on these anatomies, of frail, skeletal and solid to create my project. Essentially this project is not just about architecture but about analysing the Genius Loci of this place and creating some interventions on the site to reinject creativity. The project has three such interventions.; a counter action “building� which acts as a permeable membrane to the site, which has a certain ephemeral quality. Second an infrastructure system of drainage and piping to spread the site covered by paths and thirdly an art bazaar which can be reassembled and disassembled along the path adding to the historical context of the passage.
6. SAUL- School of Architecture at the University of Limerick- Semester 6 Project - Public House - Artisan bakery in the city, Led by Jan Frohburg, Simon Walker and Maria o’Donoghue
This project was aimed at looking at the idea of public house as an asylum , as
experience of baking one type of the most primeval bread, Sourdough. In my
somewhere to escape everyday life . Where an individual may come to be part of
design, I came up with a number of rules to create an internal protective and
a collective. To begin with we had a four week collaboration with sculpture and
experiential space. I wanted to create main spaces with pockets there off. In the
combined media art students, where we looked at this notion of public house. In
main spaces light would not come from the traditional opes but from shafts,
our installation (one photo top right) we outlined the sense of paranoia and the
wells and gaps and in some spaces the space would simply open to the sky for full
feeling of being watched while doing something.When looking for a site I had to
experience.
keep in mind this orginal discovery. I ended up choosing an old mill, as below,
The journey was to be about one loaf of bread and the singular processes involved
when I found the mill I first entered its courtyard and when I looked up I saw
were to help as space making devices.
107 windows looking at me . It gave me this feeling of being watched. This then was the feeling that I wanted to alieviate in my scheme.
When choosing a program, I had considered something in the creative discipline
HOUSE, COMMON ROOM and ARCHIVE. These were present in my
industrious perhaps. The program which I ended up choosing was that of a
scheme in that the large chimney made from terracotta died concrete was the
bakery , but, not in the normal sense, rather a bakery as an art form and as an
denominator for house, a place of warmth of baking.
Part of the brief was that the design should have an element of
The common room was that space where the people would collect their
flour and water and other spices , being a social and physically mixing space in its architectural configuration.
The archive would be that space at the beginning of the process where
the sourdough starter would be stored a place that’s full of history and contains the most important part of the recipe.
7. SAUL- School of Architecture at the University of Limerick- Semester 5 Project- Social club - How can I make a place dance, Led by Jan Frohburg, Simon Walker and Maria o’Donoghue
The semester was based on the idea of Health as infrastructure and this project
It was amazing to watch this little free spirit and somehow it seemed so odd
required the design of a Social Club, the nature of which was to be decided by
considering the invisible boundary that existed between her and that of the site
each student individually.
to which I was looking to address.
There were three different sites all with different social issues to be solved. The site I chose was located at the Garryglass housing estate in Limerick city. It
My concept for the project looked at the idea of how I could make a place
was a place where there were evident social issues. On my first visit to the site I
dance. Of this metaphor of a dance and the tension and movement associated
could feel the tension, the site was surrounded by houses on all four sides and
between two dancers. This fed the configuration of my structures. As in a
there was a constant feeling of being watched.
dance I had two main structures or dancers, in symbiosis with one another and the skin of the building appearing as if to pirouette to from the ground and off
I stayed there for awhile and met a young girl who asked if I wanted to see her
the structure.
dance. I watched her dance on the street ; even though the surface on which she dance was coated with broken glass she was ever peaceful and joyous in
Then, a third element was added which rotated and caused the type of torque
her dance.
which can exist when a third element enters a dance meant for two.
8. UU- School of Architecture at the University of Ulster, Belfast. - Semester 4 Project- Landscape and detail, Led by Saul Golden. Mentor - Caelan Bristow Semester 4 primer - Market intervention
This project required us to design an education field centre for Newtownabbey.
My proposal looked at stripping back the earth and revealing the layers of nature
The site was located on the coast of Northern Ireland. Containing within it a
ever present to make an interesting landscape proposal to raise awareness of the
coastal edge and a lagoon. It had become a home to many species and habitats
natural beauty and the composition of such. As for the building it was to be the
and this was something to be preserved and exhibited within our schemes. It was
same which was revealed under the earth as the sea bed is revealed by the
to include a design for a field centre but also for an entire landscape proposal for
changing tides.
Gideons green.
Semester 4 primer - Market intervention
A short project looking at an existing market and at possible uses for the market when it was inactive. I designed aparkour centre which would fold and unfold and that would be hidden within and wrapped around those existing structures in the market. An intervention which could also be disassembled to be used in the everyday.
9. UU- School of Architecture at the University of Ulster, Belfast.Semester 3 Projects- Housing, Led by Saul Golden.
A housing project for a musician , in my project a harpist with scale proportions for volumes based on the Fibonnaci series. Later to be reappropriated as a mixed use housing and retail unit, as above illustrated.
10. Institute of technology sligo - Interior architecture Design of a boutique hotel in an old mansion.
11. proffessional experience samples Bucholz mc evoy Architects,Berlin,Germany Design of SYKE labs in Helsinki, Finland.
MCXVI Architects, Budapest,Hungary Re-design of moritz zsigmond korter
Taylor Architects,Ireland Interior architecture and assistant work
Many thanks for your interest in my work. If you require any further details of the projects as explored do not hesitate to contact me.
Go raibh míle maith agat as ucht do suim i mo chuid obair. Más mian leat is féidir cheist a chuir orm ar feadh níos mó eolas faoi na tionscnamh atá léirithe anseo.
Vielen Dank fur Interesse in meinem Arbeit. Wenn Sie braucht mehr Informationen uber diese Projekte. Bitte mir nur melden.