SofA

Free Food & Friends

2012-01-16T18:07:00.000Z

Christmas is over and it's almost time to go head back to college. We hope everyone one is well rested and ready for another semester of architectural mischief.

To start things off on a good note and to welcome our Austrian friends, we are running a social night in scholars on Monday the 23rd. We will be making our way from studio at 8 after the evening lecture on Monday. We hope to see everyone there!

SofA Ball 2011 [PICTURES]

2011-12-05T17:26:00.000Z

Last Friday night, SofA held our third annual SofA Ball in the Carlton Hotel, Castletroy.

The night kicked off with a muled wine reception with our Santa Photo Boot. This proved quite popular as you will see in our photos. The wine was followed by a wonderful dinner, a bit early for turkey and ham, but it got us in the Christmas mood.

Following the meal a special guess arrived to give the guests a little gift of Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, sweets. Then following a speech by our wonderful presidents, we started the evenings entertainment.

A local Shannon Band, Sticky FIngers kicked off the festivities. The guys played a blinder and it wasn't long before the entire room was up and dancing. Sticky Fingers played well into the morning and reluctantly gave up the floor to our DJ for the remainder of the night, Jeff Lambert. Jeff keep the dancing going till everyone was exhausted and looking for an after party.

With everyone paring off and nothing left to do but find a bed for the night everyone left the hotel with a smile on their faces to join the party in our "presidential suit" AKA college court.

We would also like to thank Paddy Philips for the great photos from the night and dont worry we have vetted all the pictures so there won't be any embarrassing flashbacks.

By Billy Roche

You can view all the photos here:

SofA Ball 2011

SofA Trip 2012

2011-11-16T10:58:00.001Z

Today we are happy to announce our annual SofA Trip. This year we will be going to Budapest.

The plan is to visit a mixture of architecturally and culturally significant sites as well as having a good time!

The itinerary is as follows

Sunday 15th:

13.00 Meet at Dublin Airport, Check-in

15.00 Board Plane

19.05 Arrive in Budapest Airport, Terminal 1

Make way to Terminal 2 to get bus to end of Metro 3 line (Kobanya Kispest)

Take Metro 3 to city centre (Nyugati)

20.00 Make way from Nyugati station to Unity Hostel

Check-in at hostel

Monday 16th

10.00 House of the Nation, National Parliament Buildings

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Buda Castle

17.00 Dinner

Tuesday 17th

10.00 Szechenyi Public Baths

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Central Market Hall

17.00 Dinner

Wednesday 18th

10.00 House of Terror, Museum of Hungarian History

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Ice Skating, City Park

17.00 Dinner

Thursday 19th

10.00 Synagogue

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Opera House

17.00 Dinner

Friday 20th

16.30 Take Metro 3 line to Kobanya Kispest

Take bus to Terminal 2

Make way to Terminal 1

17.30 Check-in

19.30 Board Plane

If you are interested please note that you must have a valid passport, european health insurance cards and an hugarian visa if you are not a EU citizen.

The total cost of the trip is €130, which includes €30 deposite to secure your place.

The closing date for signing up is 30th November

SofA Ball - Band & DJ

2011-11-10T22:18:00.001Z

As we all know the SofA ball is just around the corner, today we are happy to announce the entertainment for the night Leading Armies and DJ, Jeff Lambert

Here is a clip from a recent Leading Armies gig in The Office Bar where they play regularly.

You may know Jeff from your coffee trips to the Scholars, but did you know he has a secret life as a DJ? Jeff is a regular in many clubs around Limerick city and country and I can guarantee you wont be disappointed.

Tickets are available now from the committee members for €40

Photography Workshop

2011-11-10T22:11:00.001Z

We would like to announce a workshop on taking pictures of architectural models and sketch model. A great resource for architecture students and anyone who wants to record what they have produced.

The workshop will take place in SAUL next Thursday (17th November) at 6pm, cost of the workshop is €2 and places are limited.

Signup below or on the signup sheet in Studio now.

Tomorrow [VIDEO]

2011-11-10T21:22:00.000Z

Video from lecture 6 in the Lecture@SAUL series, Tomorrow, by Irenee Scalbert now available on the SofA Youtube channel.

Lectures [Duration 1hr 17min]

Q&A [Duration 21min]

Tomorrow

2011-11-10T19:54:00.000Z

On the 19th of October we were delighted to have one of SAUL's core lecturers Irenée Scalbert enlighten us with a thought provoking lecture entitled “Tomorrow”, the sixth lecture in the Lecture@SAUL series hosted by Merit Bucholz.

Irenée Scalbert is a well-known Architecture critic and historian here in Limerick and further afield. He has lived abroad since SAUL’s beginnings, commuting from London where he studied at the Architectural Association and later taught for many years. He is also a member of the editorial boards of AA files and candide. Recently, Irenée has been lecturing on Urban Planning and Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

As Merrit remarked in his introduction, it is great to have the opportunity to expand the discourse of our ever-developing, still new school to a wider context. Notions that have developed from SAUL to a broader discourse in Architecture, bringing about current themes of interest emerging from his seminars in America. It was quite apt that Irenée would speak this evening while our French visitors were in the audience; the students were pleased to listen to the thoughts fellow Frenchman.

The opening slide of Logan Airport set the scene for the evening. Irenée began with a discussion about “Junk Space”, a space of closure at the end of the story. A place he calls pre-revolutionary. Places of uncertainty, full of spectacle which lack purpose. He discusses Rem Koolhaus’ article on “Junk Space” and also Michel Houellebecq’s book “The Map and Territory”.

This develops to his main theme of the evening. The 1% architecture compares to the 99% architecture. The 1% being that which discomforts him, one of spectacle where the event or the users lack relevance. He compares Jean Nouvel’s Serpintine Pavillion in Hyde Park London to Practice Architecture’s Frank’s Café, on a roof top in Peckham London. Both Cafés are of similar briefs, however the Serpintine Pavillion representing 1% architecture and Frank’s Café representing 99% architecture. This poses a question that interests him greatly. What is the constituency of architecture today?

Moving on he discusses a theme that he feels has dominated architectural discussion for the last 50 years, that of the “Terrain Vague”, abandoned places in a city which become diverted to new creative uses through improvisation. He feels this has run its course and has come to some kind of end. It is now represented by a different model, the paradigm of the garden, a more planned cultivation of pleasure and social peace, based on the provision of human care. He demonstrates many examples of this.

He goes on to discuss pre-Raphaelite painting. He believes these are of current interest. At the moment people are trying to look upon nature and nature’s relationship to the built environment in a different way. He discusses whether we should take anthropology as a guide. Anthropologists look at every aspect of life, how people look upon and live in a particular environment. He illustrates this through many interesting references.

This develops to a discussion on the renewed interest in the vernacular. He begins by dealing with the origins of the idea of vernacular, with particular interest given to the book “Native Genius in Anonymous Architecture” by Sibyl Monogly-Magy, an architectural historian and critic. In this book she is looking for two things. Firstly for what is fundamental from the human point of view in vernacular architecture, and secondly contemporary examples from the new world. He also gives great attention to Van Eyck, most importantly his slogan “By Us, For Us”.

The great value of vernacular is the architecture is that it is for the 99%. The Architecture that we have seen in the last 20years, iconic architecture or “Starchitecture” is architecture for the 1%.

This proceeds into Irenée’s personal views on what the origins of vernacular architecture are. The very idea of geography, and that the earth is a totality, and that “geography is the science of places.” He goes through many books which are of interest to his view. He is fascinated by the theory of the house and discusses the concept of “bricolage”. He discusses how regions are described in physical terms. He discusses non-places and how there is nothing on the surface of the earth which is not in itself a place. Even roads are an experience.

He concludes by discussing the planner Ebenezer Howard, and his book “Garden Cities of Tomorrow”, from which he got the title for this lecture. What is of interest to him is the argument between the town and country diagram, reverting back to the garden city. He has particular interest the ambiguity of the hedge. In discussing this he makes reference to SAUL’s IU mapping of hedges done this summer of county Mayo. He describes this as a blue print of the city of some kind. Lastly he discusses what should be the centre of the garden city, describing the earliest meeting house in Hingham, Boston in America, a landmark for the beginning of democracy in America. He believes this is the best example of architecture for the 99% even the 100%. He describes the inside as a model of the city in plan. The stalls like plots of land. He then reverts back to the idea of hedges, boundary makers describing a city.

In questions and answers Úna Breathnach H-Ifearnáin in fifth year asked about the improvised and the planned and weather Irenée believed it was a transitory thing, something process orientated. Does he believe this is where we are going? Irenée responded that the architects can play a role as planners and that the fundamental activity of the architect is to plan. He doesn’t believe that a lot will change in practice but that it is up to the architect to promote the value of planning.

Simon Walker inquired about Irenées points on the “Terrain Vague” being over. Does this mean that the economic model, which has failed by the private capitalist model is also over? Does this deny the idea of collective space? There is a seed of the 99% contained in this idea, where does he believe this may go? Irenée believes that this is something that would appear as marginal behaviour, there is a certain kind of passivity associated with the “Terrain Vague” that the collective space can only be where you find it, that is cannot be created actively, this is the part that bothers him. He agrees that because of its marginality it tends to be something peripheral to society. In relation to the garden and the city, he is describing it as more of a metaphor for the city, he is unsure what position the garden itself will have within the city. Right at the core there is the idea of care, care is the foundation of the garden. In the “Terrain Vague” it is the opposite, it is the existence of an absence of care which is the foundations of the “Terrain Vague”, a kind of delight in abandonment. He would welcome a much more activist caring approach.

There were also some interesting questions posed by our French visitors.

By Eimear Egan

Cruth Currach - What is Design to You?

2011-11-05T14:00:00.000Z

As part of Design Week 2011 short discussions and talks were presented in the Cruth Currach just off the Main Plaza in UL. On Thursday evening, Jan Frohburg presented a discussion on design. He was joined by Liam, a member of the Interaction Design Centre in U.L.

The talk focussed on the human participation needed for good design. People need to be part of the process for successful results.

Progressive technology matters but have we gotten to ahead of ourselves? Is it not better to design like the bicycle, where all the cogs and chains are visible so it can be easily understood? As opposed to the new sensor doors in continental trains that often don’t work as efficiently as they should, asking people to vigorously shake their hand above the sensors defeating their purpose. In this situation would a usual door handle be more effective? As designers these are the questions that we need to ask ourselves.

By Jane Kissane

Cruth Curach - What is Design to You?

2011-11-05T13:51:00.000Z

As part of Design Week 2011 short discussions and talks were presented in the Cruth Currach in just off the Main Plaza in UL. On Thursday lunchtime 3/11, Jan Frohburg presented a discussion on design.

The first speaker was John Logan. John began by posing us a question “What is design? “. He then proceeded to to pull what looked like an oddly shaped rock out of a box he had brought with him. He explained how his father had found this rock in a drain in the 1950’s and how he eventually came to realise it was an axe head, several thousand years old. John grew up with this object lying around the house, sometimes used for everyday things like a paperweight.

On a visit to Ghana later in his life, John noticed an object strikingly similar to the one his father had found in the 50’s, being sold in a car boot sale. John was told these objects were used as agricultural tools thousands of years ago. While these tools might seem primitive to us, they were well designed for their time. Danish scientists performed experiments with these tools and found that they could clear a hectare of birch in a day. John then reminded us of the striking similarity between these two objects, one made in Ireland thousands of years ago, and the other in Ghana. This shows universality in human design and need.

John brought out other similarly shaped axe heads and an even more primitive looking one. He then showed us the progression the design of the axe head took throughout the ages right up to the modern day axe. Technology John said “Is something that amplifies human existence “ John finished his talk by talking about the universality of natural design as well and how it influences humanity in artificial design. John took out an egg and then some stone sculptures that a famous British sculptor known as “William Moore “did inspired by the form of the egg.

Following John, Jan Frohberg's talk was focussed on the Bauhaus and the famous cantilever chair designed by Marcel Breuer while John Logan sat in the chair Jan had brought with him. Jan remarked on how a “ tube of bent steel” bound by leather could provide such comfort. Jan also explained how the large scale production of the chair was only made possible by the Bauhaus’ move to Dessau, a progressive industrial town. Jan then went on to point out that the Bauhaus was the first architectural design to take into account its’ aerial view as Dessau had an airplane factory.

By Conor Campbell

The Problematic of Utopia and Architecture

2011-11-04T11:53:00.000Z

On the 26^th October SAUL was visited by Dr Nathanial Coleman as part of the Lecture@SAUL series hosted by Peter Carroll and Merit Bucholz.

Coleman currently lectures at Newcastle University and has done for the past eight and a half years. Previous to which he lectured at Washington State University, the University of Pennsylvania and Boston Architectural College among others. He has practiced Architecture in New York City and Rome and has worked with the Firms of Eisenman/Robertson and Hardy Holzman Pfieffer.

Coleman received his Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and has gone on to receive his masers and PhD in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

The topic of the nights lecture was the problematic of utopia and architecture, a subject many students were interested in due to module work and general intrigue. Coleman is concerned with the social dimension of architecture and how it is so often neglected driving him toward the study of Utopia.

Durning his introduction, Meritt Bucholz raised the idea that utopianism is a driving force of architectural thinking. That it is about a constant change and transformation. This argument is taken up by Coleman but not before he commented on our studio space. As opposed to the ‘call-centre’ style of many architecture schools, he discussed how our open space promotes open ended exploration as was demonstrated in the following hour of discussion.

He begins with the argument of a dystopia. The idea of a space being repressive and controlled is often linked to the idea of a utopia. We are surrounded by instances of this ideal, one of which is the airport terminal. Coleman asks if this dystopian idea is architecture?

He does believe that utopia can ‘return architecture to us and our habit of thinking’. Pure and simple it is social dreaming, something we need to explore and strive for. Coleman believes there is no architecture without utopia and no utopia without architecture. Any richness that architecture is missing can be found through utopia and we are always trying to look beyond the imagined. Utopia offers possibilities even in times of doubt.

Coleman aims to round off the discussion by looking at three buildings; le Corbusier’s La Tourette, Louis I.Kahn’s Salk Institute and Van Eyck’s Orphanage in Amsterdam. Each of these buildings carries the ideals of a utopian space, with their monastery-style of enclosure and use of space. It was a clear example to demonstrate the opinions of the previous hour’s discussion.

For someone who hadn’t come across utopia in the course of my studies to date this was a very enjoyable lecture and an interesting introduction to an important topic in architectural study. The lecture sparked great discussion with questions coming from students and lectures alike.

For anyone interested Coleman has just released his publication; Imagining and making the world:reconsidering architecture and utopia. Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang, 2011.

By Jane Kissane

SofA Launches SofA News Reel

2011-11-03T16:14:00.001Z

As part of our new initiative, we are proud to announce the SofA News Reel, a place to find design news from SAUL, Limerick and beyond.

You can access the Reel at http://news.sofaul.ie or click the link above

Have something to add to the Reel? email editor@sofaul.ie

The Use of Alibi

2011-11-03T01:57:00.002Z

Tonight we was excited to welcome Tom De Paor to the studio to give a the eight Lecture@SAUL lecture entitled ‘The Use of the Alibi’ hosted by Merit Bucholz.

Tom is an established architect who has made his name through out the country and has represented Ireland in Venice Biennale of Architecture. He is the type of architect many admire and respect. His schemes are designed in a modern way while still keep true to Irish heritage.

Those who attend the talk got treated to an insight into Toms passion for architecture and we were introduced to what he himself described as his ‘hobby’ . The devotion, passion and love for this project was real, intense and extremely inspiring.

Through the lecture we are brought by him on a tour through the site of his project, a place where he intends to live, work and relax. He has put his heart and sole into reintroducing life into the existing structure yet aiming to preserving the integrity of it while adding to it to create a world of his own. His knowledge of the history of the site and the way in which he talked about the previous inhabitants was a clear indication of the devotion and intense interest he has in the project.

Different from other projects, De Paor has the opportunity to of work on site himself and base much of his design on instinct. As no strict set of drawings were drawn before the work was started and due to the fact much of the design is changing on a constant basis, plans are drawn up after each actions is taken. In an effort to explain the project to the attendees we were taken on a walk with him through his vision, a place that does in fact exist in his imagination but a place that he is determined to carefully and lovingly make into a reality. A series of structures where each detail is thought through and contemplated. Each move is strategically taken and down to the planting everything is planned in an effort to fulfill the vision and house the life that he sees taking place in the spaces.

His approach to the design is what he describes as a luxury, a project with no deadline, a project of pure passion and a want to make spaces to fit him and his family. A world built with his own blood sweat and tears. This approach to design was a breath of fresh air and showed the true passion that can be engrained within a design. This limitless attitude in a modern world that is full of limits was truly inspiring and makes for an inspirational architectural venture.

Nothing seemed to be a problem as everything is an enjoyable active move to achieve the vision that lies within him. The way he described things brought an ambitious exhilaration and limitless feel to the work he is doing, no mountain was too big and no rock was too heavy, ‘I took that down, kept that, kept that cause i liked it , infilled it here and infilled here.’ The hours love and passion in this project and his true child like excitement is to be coveted by many and the passion shining through in his talk made for an inspirational night for all.

Next weeks Lecture@SAUL lecture will be by Finola O'Kane and is entitled ‘Ireland and the Picturesque’

by Jennifer O'Riordan

Architecture Travel Experience [VIDEO]

2011-11-03T01:00:00.000Z

Video from lecture 4 in the Lecture@SAUL series, Architecture Travel Experience, now available on the SofA Youtube channel.

Lectures + Q&A [Duration 1hr 28min]

Reconnecting Landscape [VIDEO]

2011-11-03T00:53:00.001Z

Video from lecture 5 in the Lecture@SAUL series, Reconnecting Landscape, now available on the SofA Youtube channel.

Lecture [Duration 57min]

Q&A [Duration 20min]

Writing Team, Call for submissions.

2011-11-02T13:50:00.000Z

Over the last few weeks you may have noticed very little activity on this blog, this is the unfortunate reflection of how busy the entire SofA committee have been.

However we hope things to start improving in the very near future. Over the last few days we have been putting together a writing team so that we can cover more of what happens in SAUL. This will mean more content for you to read, and less pressure on the SofA committee.

As part of this new team we would also like to start including some opinion pieces and news from outside the walls of the studio that our students are involved in.

This is where you come in. If you would like to see something on this Blog or if you have a piece you woulds like to submit please email them to editor@sofaul.ie

In the mean time, expect to see more here in the near future.

SofA Soccer Week 3

2011-10-25T18:28:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was the third week of the SofA Soccer League, here are the results and the legue table.

Mondays Match Results:

Team 4 [02] - [01] Team 5

Team 2 [05] - [03] Team 6

Team 1 [03] - [01] Team 3

League Table:

Team	P	W	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts
Team 1	3	3	0	11	2	9	9
Team 2	3	2	1	20	11	9	6
Team 6	3	2	1	16	10	6	6
Team 3	3	1	2	10	12	-2	3
Team 4	3	1	2	6	13	-7	3
Team 5	3	0	3	8	27	-19	0

No body took photo this week but you can see last weeks photos here.

Tullamore Community Arts Centre [VIDEO]

2011-10-24T16:00:00.000+01:00

Video from lecture 3 in the Lecture@SAUL series, Tullamore Community Arts Centre, now available on the SofA Youtube channel.

Lecture [Duration 54min]

Q&A [Duration 17min]

SofA Ball

2011-10-20T19:51:00.001+01:00

This years SofA Ball will be December 2nd in the Carlton Hotel, Castletroy.
Numbers are limited so get your tickets soon. A limited number of plus one tickets are also available.

Tickets are €40 available now from the SofA committee.

See the Darker Side of Limerick

2011-10-20T19:39:00.001+01:00

Next Thursday 27th October SofA will host our Halloween Treasurer Hunt in Limerick City.
We will meet at the Granary car park (formally Trinity Rooms) at 7:30pm. We will be keeping all the other details secret for now, but be prepared to do some walking on the night.

Tickets are €5 available now from the SofA Committee.

SofA Soccer Week 2

2011-10-17T23:29:00.000+01:00

Tonight was the second week of the SofA Soccer League, here are the results and the legue table.

Mondays Match Results:

Team 1 [05] - [00] Team 4

Team 2 [14] - [02] Team 5

Team 3 [02] - [05] Team 6

League Table:

Team	P	W	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts
Team 6	2	2	0	13	5	8	6
Team 1	2	2	0	8	1	7	6
Team 2	2	1	1	15	8	7	3
Team 3	2	1	1	9	9	0	3
Team 4	2	0	2	4	12	-8	0
Team 5	2	0	2	5	22	-17	0

You can view all the Photos from the league here.

Open House Dublin 2011

2011-10-13T23:00:00.000+01:00

Last week student from SofA traveled to Dublin to the Open House 2011 festival run by the Irish Architecture Foundation.

Students traveled to Dublin early Saturday morning to spend two days and one night in the city exploring all that Open House had to offer all over the city seeing some of irelands greatest Architecture, usually not open to the public.

The group started by visiting SAUL's own Peter Carrol's lucky Lane Mews House in Stoneybatter, then splitting up to cover all their individual lists. Places that proved popular were McCullough Mulvin Architects' Long Room Hub in Trinity College, Number 31 Leeson Close, the former home of Sam Stephenson and Henry J Lyons Architects' studio. Some was attempts to go see the Central Bank but were hindered by the Occupy Dame street protests.

After an exhausting but very productive weekend the group returned to Limerick on Sunday night.

Other highlights of the trip were:

Temple Bar Gallery and Studios - McCullough Mulvin Arcgitects
Georgain Town House - Unknown/Archur Gibney & Partners
Temple Bar Regeneration Photography Exhibition
The National Gallery
National Museum - Clancy Moore refurbishment
Herbit Simms tour
Cruth Curach - Bucholz McEvoy Architects & Jim Horgan, Master boat builder
City Assembly Building - Unknown
Gibson Hotel - Scott Tallon Walker Architects
The Plastic House - Architecture Republic
Liberty Hall - Desmond Rea O'Kelly/Brian Hogan
Busáras - Michael Scott
Distillery Lofts Design Studios - Unknown/Tyler Owens Architects
NAMAlab Virtual Tour
Group 91 talk by Shelly McNamara
The Dead City public light performance
Seven Donegal Churches photo exhibition

Sketches and photos form the trip can be seen here

Architecture Travel Experience

2011-10-12T15:51:00.002+01:00

Last week the Lecture@SAUL lecture, hosted by Peter Carroll, was given by seven SAUL students discussing their experiences while traveling in the last year.

The first speaker of the evening was Sinéad Stack who discussed her trip to China last February. Beginning in Hangzhou, one of the wealthiest parts of China, Sinead traveled 168 km north-east to Shanghai, then inland to Xi'an followed by a 12 hour bus journey to Beijing, ending her journey with the Great Wall and Nanjing.

Sinéad was only in China for a short visit but managed to travel and see a lot in that time. She highlighted some of her favorites from her visit including the Shanghai World Finance Centre at 474 m high, Paul Andreu's Pudong Airport, The Birds Nest, The Forbidden City, The CCTV Headquarters, the Temple to Heaven and Nanjing's Massacre museum.

Following Sinéad, Gavin Doheny talked about his time at the Shanghai Summer School which he won a scholarship to attend this summer. Gavin was one of around forty Europeans who attended the school but the only Irish student. He started by explaining that the Shanghai Summer School was about encouraging student exchanges and brought together students from various disciplines. He explained how the courses were structured in the Chinese universities he visited and some of the things he learned.

Gavin also mentioned the difficulties of studying in a country where he did not know that language and said there was many things that got lost in translation. Gavin finished up his talk with the highlights of his visit, a class on Chinese Painting, research into the Bund and its 1912 courtyard houses and a very interesting 1933 abattoir which has been converted into an Arts hub.

The next student to talk was Uná Breathnach HIfearnáin who spent the last year studying in Dessau Institute of Architecture in Germany. Úna Showed us her project work from her two semesters in the school including a project to revitalise the Kreuzberg area of Berlin.
Uná also showed us some images form her class trip to Istanbul.

Úna also discussed what it was like to work in the same studio as students of many difference nationalities. She describes situations where even thought he course was though through English, simular to Gavin, the language barrier did cause problems at times.

Following Úna, Alan Hillard and Edel Murphy, who both studied in Stockholm's KTH School of Architecture, talked about their time in Sweden. Alan was in Stockholm for the first semester of the year and Adel for the second. They started by describing Stockholm, made up of 14 islands, to the audience and discussed how life differed living in a Swedish city.

Following this they discussed the School of Architecture and the old prison building it occupies. They also noted how the 4th year of the course is thought though English and there is a choice between being thought through Swedish or English in 5th year. Another interesting difference in the course allows the student to pick which design studio focus they wished to study. Both Alan and Edel decided to study Urban Studio.

Edel then discussed her time in Stockholm and discussed how the Urban Studio was structured, She then went on to discuss briefly her class trip to Shanghai where they worked with Chinese students on a master plan for an area outside Shanghai.

Alan then discussed the travel he did durning his free time in Stockholm. Alan got to see a lot of interesting architecture including Asplund Public Library, Enskede's Woodland Cemetry and Sigurd Lewerentz's Church of Resurrection. Both Alan and Adel then summed up their time Stockholm and noted that the most noticeable difference they experienced was how dramatic the seasonal changes were.

Following their joint talk Edel discussed her summer trip to Panamá, the highlight being her visit to the Panamá Canal. This 77 km long canal, which takes 8-10 hours to travel by boat, struck Edel by its size and how far apart from the city it is. Edel also showed us images of the enormous sips which are designed to be as big as possible and still fit through the lock gates of the cannel. Edel also noted that the canal cannot currently meet the demand and that there is plans to build a new larger canal beside the current one. Edel finished up her talk by describing briefly her visit to Ecuador before leaving Panamá.

The second last speaker of the night was David Mc Inerney who traveled to New York for 10 months returning this September.

David started by describing the preconceptions he had before going to New York, and describing how, for the most part, they were all true. He also referenced Rem Koolhaas' Delirious New York and how he often saw the delirium of New York during his time there. David also mentioned how he was drawn to the parks in the city and found the juxtaposition of the activities in the park and the delirium of the city outside made them one of his favorite parts of the city.

David also mentioned that he tried to visit as many buildings he could while in the city and managed to get to some that really inspired him. One in particular that he really enjoyed was the American Folk Art Museum. He finished up by discussing briefly the work he did while there, starting off in construction, then moving into the company's office becoming their web designer and photographer and finally showing us the logo he designed for the company before her left.

The last speaker of the night was Colin Dorgan who spent part of the last year in New Zealand. Colin started by explaining how, wanting to see the world and get architectural experience, motivated his desire to travel. He then described how her sold drawing and water colours to locals and tourist around Ireland to raise money to do so.

Colin then described some of the places he saw on the way to New Zealand, including Tokyo in Japan and Australia. In Tokyo Colin was struct by how clean the city was and how even though their are 30,000 people living there, they all care about the city. He also mentioned the Yokohama Ferry Terminal as a building that he found particularly inspiring.

Colin then went on to describe the 'one chair house' where he lived in New Zealand and their plans to make their own furniture. However due the hours he put in laboring to earn money this ambition never came to fruition. Finishing up the talk Colin described some of the places he visited during his time in New Zealadn in particular the Mourri Architecture he visited.

Following all the speakers there was a short Q&A session where the students discusses the problems and benefits they all encountered while traveling. Some of the exchange students in the audience also lent their voice to the discussion. The lecture finished with the speakers giving some tips to those wishing to travel in the near future.

Tonights talk, the fifth lecture in the series, will be by PaulSelman entitled 'Reconnecting Landscape- People, Place and Nature'

SofA Soccer Week 1

2011-10-12T01:44:00.003+01:00

Last monday was the first week of the SofA Soccer League, here are the results and the legue table.
[Update] Corrected error, team 6 won against tem 5

Mondays Match Results:

Team 1 [3] - [1] Team 2

Team 3 [7] - [4] Team 4

Team 5 [3] - [8] Team 6

League Table:

Team	P	W	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts
Team 6	1	1	0	8	3	5	3
Team 3	1	1	0	7	4	3	3
Team 1	1	1	0	3	1	2	3
Team 2	1	0	1	1	3	-2	0
Team 4	1	0	1	4	7	-3	0
Team 5	1	0	1	3	8	-5	0

You can view all the Photos from the league here.

Lecture@SAUL Schedule

2011-10-10T12:00:00.001+01:00

We've had a lot of request for the full list of Lecture@SAUL lectures so here there are as they currently stand. You can also find a full list of SofA events on our calendar page.

14 Sept - Anna Ryan. SAUL, 'Where Land Meets Sea' (available here)
21 Sept - Practice Architecture, London, 'Design Build Practice' (available here)
28 Sept - Peter Carroll, A2 Architects, 'Tullamore Community Arts Centre' (available soon)
05 Oct - SAUL students, 'Architecture Travel Experience' (available soon)
12 Oct - Paul Selman, Department of Landscape University of Sheffield, 'Reconnecting Landscape'
19 Oct - Mark Breley, Architect, Design for London
26 Oct - Nathaniel Coleman, University of Newcastle, 'Utopias and Architecture'
02 Nov - Tom De Paor, Depaor Architects, 'The Alibi of Truth' [TBC]
09 Nov - Finola O'Kane, UCD, 'Ireland and the Picturesque [TBC]
16 Nov - Tom Emerson, 6a Architecs London, 'Design Materials and Recycling'
23 Nov - Florian Beigel + Philip Cristou, ARU, 'Saemangeum Island City'
07 Dec - John Gerrard, Artist

Design Build Practice [VIDEO]

2011-10-07T10:01:00.001+01:00

Video from lecture 2 in the Lecture@SAUL series, Design Build Practice, now available on the SofA Youtube channel.

Lecture + Q&A [Duration 49min]