des/IRE — designing houses for contemporary Ireland

ed. Gemma Tipton

contributors include: Agency / Gary A Boyd / Sarah Browne / Mary P Corcoran / Lisa Godson / Jane Gray / Seán Griffiths / Evelyn Hanlon / Mike Hannon / Elizabeth Hatz / Wayne Hemingway / Hendrik W van der Kamp / Mick McDonagh / Frank McDonald / Micheál Martin TD / Alan Mee / Donagh Ó hArgáin / John O’Connor / Owen O’Doherty / Shane O’Toole / Hugh Pearman / Michel Peillon / Michael Pike / Emmett Scanlon / Richard Simmons / John Sorrell / Dominic Stevens / Apolonija Šušteršic / Gemma Tipton (editor) / Lynda Ward

ISBN 978 0948037 542     232 pages (paperback)   24x17cm   184 illus   index

Should the standard of housing in Ireland reassure us or be a cause for grave concern? Against the ‘luxury lifestyle’ backdrop of Celtic Tiger Ireland, did we really build the right sort of homes and communities? And what about a future, less affluent Ireland? What challenges face us in this changing climate?

Bringing together leading architects, planners, politicians, sociologists, writers, artists, designers and developers, this unique book looks at where we have come from, and offers some ideas on where we might be going. As, right across the country, villages expand to the size of towns, housing estates spread into the hinterlands, and one-off housing fills the spaces in between, questions about how we live, how we should be living, and how we would like to live have never been more urgent.

Based on a conference organised by the National Sculpture Factory in Cork in May of 2007, des/IRE is a thought-provoking, creative, and vital response to one of contemporary Ireland’s most serious issues.

The illuminating, intelligent, wide-ranging follow-up to the des/IRE conference is full of earnest debate ... The stimulating book is relevant across a broad spectrum, from anyone who has ever dreamed of buying or building a house, to those in the design area, to planners, developers, community organisers and politicians. 

 — Irish Examiner

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EXTRACT

"What is to be done about housing in Ireland? No matter what your political persuasion, and whether you live in the city, the country, or the spreading suburban hinterlands, the question feels urgent, as evidence of wrong answers creeps up in concrete, steel and glass in the middle of cities, on former fields in the countryside, and spreading along the sides of our roads.
         There was, therefore, a certain appropriateness that a major conference exploring this pressing question took place over the general election weekend of 23-25 May 2007. This was not simply because of the sense of potential change that hangs in the air at election time, nor because of the promises that attach themselves to every doorstep exchange between individual and politician (‘we will make things better’; ‘we are the party of good planning’; ‘we will deliver stability, prosperity, better housing, better health…’). No, the appropriateness was also due to the sense of responsibility that comes at the time of any election. Election day is the one day when we cannot blame the Government. Election day is the day when it is brought home to us that the ultimate responsibility for change lies with ourselves. It is up to us to vote, it is up to us to be informed, and it is up to us to make reasonable demands in the expectation of their being met.
         But what, in the context of designing houses for contemporary Ireland, is it that we should be asking for? In the intervening time, since the des/IRE conference, we have undergone what optimistic economists and estate agents call a ‘correction’ in the housing market, and what many others would term a ‘crisis’. Perhaps this situation is proving that a nation of private property speculators will inevitably find it has foundations as flimsy as those of a pyramid sales scheme. Maybe it is underlining that poor-quality housing is destined to remain unsold. Nonetheless, the cost in terms of job losses, foreclosures and financial squeezes that cut to the heart of individual families’ stability are not to be dismissed lightly. Since that general election, the smoke and mirrors of the property boom have been exposed for what they were. We may no longer borrow against one house to finance another; buy apartments in towns (even in countries) that we have never visited; or be persuaded into property purchases by slick and sexy advertising. But behind this remains the crucial point that even though houses are not selling as fast as they were, and even if we are oversupplied in some areas, people still need somewhere to live, and the quality of design – not just of our homes, but of the spaces in between – is fundamental to the quality of how we live. So what is to be done?"