What Do Buildings Do All Day?

In this episode, Emmett Scanlon talks to Jeanette Lowe. Jeanette is a photographer based in Dublin. The conversation is about housing and the people that live in it, specifically Pearse House,  a housing scheme designed by Herbert Simms and built between 1935-40 in Dublin. Jeanette begins by talking about her work as part of RTE Illuminations, in which she photographed what she calls, the "invisible front line", workers who have gone out to work right through lockdown and Covid-19 and who also live in Pearse Flats. Jeanette  was born and lives in Dublin, Ireland. Her work has been exhibited in Ireland and internationally and is held in Irish and international collections. Her artistic practice explores the relationship between people, place and culture with an emphasis on communities in inner-city Dublin. She is currently Artist in Residence at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles St., Dublin and continues to work on her personal projects. Music is by Irish composer Sinead Finnegan and is used with permission. Copyright reserved. The piece, Précis, is written for string quartet and is performed by the Delmaine String Quartet. The piece was recorded live in the Chapel in Trinity, December 2018 at a concert hosted by Mellow Tonics choir. Due to Covid-19 restrictions this conversation was recorded online.

In this episode host Emmett Scanlon, talks to architecture critic Shane O' Toole. Back in the 1980s a group of young and eager architects began working together in a loose collective, anxious to make things happen in Dublin city. By 1991, this group formalised as Group 91 and contained among others, Shelley McNamra, Yvonne Farrell (Grafton Architects), John Tuomey and Sheila O Donnell, Mc Cullough Mulvin architects and McGarry NiEanaigh. As we approach the 30th anniversary of Group 91, the conversation begins with Shane recalling how he and he colleagues set it up and how they went about initiating and then winning the ground breaking and landmark design competition for Temple Bar in Dublin, a moment in our urban history, and, as one critic put it, that put Irish architecture finally on the public mind. Shane talks about how he was involved in the design and construction of the Ark, the cultural centre for children and the adjoining arch in Temple Bar as part of Group 91. The conversation moves to Shane's career as a critic for the Sunday Times, becoming a writer, hunting down the stories of Irish architects and his work as an advocate for Irish architecture in Europe and beyond. Music is by Rachael Lavelle. If you enjoy the podcast please rate it on iTunes. Shane O’Toole is an award-winning architectural critic and no longer practicing as an architect. A graduate in architecture from UCD and current Adjunct Associate Professor at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy. An honorary member of the AAI, he has served the profession as President of the AAI, Vice President of the RIAI, inaugural director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, Commissioner for the Venice Biennale and jury member of the Mies van der Rohe Award for contemporary European architecture. He co-founded DoCoMoMo International and DoCoMoMo Ireland, the heritage bodies, and is Chairman of the Irish Architectural Archive’s Collections Development Committee. He was a founder member of Group 91 Architects. He reintroduced the Downes Medal as the AAI’s premier award and established its annual international critic’s lecture programme. He has co-edited monographs on Kevin Roche and Aldo Rossi, and curated exhibitions on Michael Scott, Liam McCormick and Noel Moffett, among others. He contributed to the pilot inventory of 20th-century architecture in Dublin. He wrote for The Sunday Times for ten years. A member of CICA, the International Committee of Architecture Critics, he was named International Building Press Architecture Writer of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Gandon also published a collection of his critical essays, 101 Hosannas for Architecture, in 2018.

This is a bonus edition of the podcast What Do Buildings Do All Day? In this second bonus episode you will hear a text written by host Emmett Scanlon following a visit to the Elbephilarmonie in Hamburg, in June 2018. "What's It All About Elphie?" is read by actor Ste Murray.  Building Me, Building You is the title of this occasional bonus edition of the main long-form podcast. New writings on encounters with or stories of living in or with buildings will be read by the authors themselves or by others on their behalf. If you wish to submit a text for consideration for future editions of the podcast, please get in touch with us at whatdobuildingsdoallday@gmail.com.  Thanks for listening. Podcast music is by Rachael Lavelle.  Podcast contains an extract of, Richard Wagner: The Ring Without Words (arr. Lorin Maazel). Played by the World Doctors Orchestra, Stefan Willich, conductor  Live recording 29th June 2018 Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Germany. Video Editing: Matthias Füg and Mhoch4 (www.mhoch4.com) Audio Recording: Parry Audio Studio (www.parry-audio.de) Audio Mastering: Martin Schlaud (www.mcs-mastering.de). Reproduced with permission, all copyright remains with the World Doctors Orchestra / the authors.

In this episode, Emmett Scanlon talks to Eamonn Hall and Cormac Murray about their new publication COSMOFORM. This is a 'zine on the Met Eireann Building in Glasnevin, Dublin 9 by architect Liam McCormick. During the conversation, we hear some of the history of this building and how the architect was influenced by the work of  Swiss architect, Justus Dahinden. This leads to a conversation on how one might make books about buildings and the death (or not) of print publications. We also hear about their first publication, The Forgotten Frontier, a study of the infamous Phibsborough Shopping Centre, in Dublin 7. Eamonn Hall is a Dublin based graphic designer and art director. He is the founder of Phibsboro Press, an independent publishing imprint focused on architecture, photography and design. He is also the lead designer at EHGD (ehgd.xyz), a small design studio based in Cabra. Eamonn's work is focused on branding, logo design, print production and web design. Cormac Murray is an Irish architect and writer based in Toronto. In addition to his two essays for the Phibsboro Press, he has edited and published numerous essays and reviews for Irish Architectural publications and has co-authored a book: The Dublin Architecture Guide 1947-2014 with Paul Kelly and Brendan Spierin. Both 'zines are available for purchase at Phibsboro Press. Support Irish Design! Podcast music by Rachel Lavelle. This episode was recorded using ZOOM.

This is a bonus edition of the podcast What Do Buildings Do All Day? In this first bonus episode you will hear a text by Conor Sreenan, read by actor Ste Murray. Building Me, Building You is the title of this occasional bonus edition of the main long-form podcast. New writings on encounters with or stories of living in or with buildings will be read by the authors themselves or by others on their behalf. If you wish to submit a text for consideration for future editions of the podcast, please listen to the end and get in touch with us at whatdobuildingsdoallday@gmail.com. Thanks for listening. Music is by Rachael Lavelle. Conor Sreenan is a Director of the Grangegorman Development Agency, with responsibility for Strategy & Design. From 2004-2017 he worked with heneghan peng architects. The Palestinian Musuem was designed by heneghan peng architects for Taawon (Welfare Association), and built by Tubaila Target United and Consolidated Contractors Co. Image Title: Feras Tubaila, Nablus Workshop, Palestine, taken by Conor Sreenan.

Adrian Duncan is an artist and award-winning writer based in Ireland and Berlin. In this podcast, a recorded conversation between Dublin and Berlin, Adrian talks to Emmett Scanlon about bungalows, building sites, books and Berlin. Two excerpts from his debut novel are read by actor Ste Murray. Adrian's debut novel Love Notes from a German Building Site was published by The Lilliput Press and Head of Zeus in 2019. It won the 2019 John McGahern Book Prize. In 2020 he was shortlisted for the Dalkey Literary Awards Emerging Writer. His second novel A Sabbatical in Leipzig was published by The Lilliput Press in 2020. In 2018 he exhibited, in collaboration with Feargal Ward, a large-scale film/sculptural installation work titled The Soil Became Scandinavian, as part of EVA 2018, curated by Inti Guerrero. In 2019 they co-directed a music video for Joy Division's Day of the Lords as part of the Unknown Pleasures Reimagined project. In 2020 his and Ward's film Tension Structures received its North American premier at Hot Docs, Toronto. From 1995 Adrian studied and worked as a structural engineer for over a decade in the U.K. and Ireland. He received his chartership from the I.E.I. (Irish Engineering Institute) in 2007, before returning to study fine art at IADT, Dún Laoghaire in 2008. He received a 1st class M.A. (Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD, Dublin) in 2011. He has guest tutored and guest lectured at UCD School of Architecture, Dublin; UCC School of Architecture, Cork; NCAD, Dublin; and Crawford College of Art, Cork. He is coeditor of Paper Visual Art Journal (IRL/DE). Podcast music by Rachel Lavelle. Reading by Ste Murray. Book extracts reproduced and used by kind permission of the author.