What We Do Now Echoes In Eternity
I am a graduate of Architecture in TUDublin, having taken an early exit and qualified with a Bachelor's in Architectural Studies after completing 3 years of study. My ambition is to pursue a career in cultural journalism, writing about art, architecture and creative practice. During my time in TUDublin, I was presented with the Sir Richard Morrison Scholarship Award in 2021 for Student Excellence. I was presented with the award in recognition of my studio project from the same year, an educational farm and food port for Dublin Co-Op which was derived from an environmental manifesto I had created based off Hogarth's 1753 piece 'A Rake's Progress'. Currently, I am a prospective student for a Master's in NCAD, hoping to study Art in the Contemporary World, beginning January 2024. In the meantime I am occupying myself with life drawing classes, visiting gallery exhibitions, expanding my library and keeping up to date with the latest film releases. I am interested in social politics and the democracy of space, two themes that run through each of my design and writing projects. My preferred reference book, which I include in my research notes throughout each of my projects, is 'Imaginary Cities' by Darran Anderson, with 'Here Comes the Sun' by Ken Worpole in close second.
The project, as you will see is deeply thought out and draws from historical and cultural context, landscape, religious belief and practice and contemporary thought and writing. The final site plan and structures were inspired by the Celtic Wheel of the Year and draw connections to the site's own historical context through the architecture and spatial planning. The Rake's Progress manifesto is a visual piece of prose on our current ecological crisis and the cyclical nature of life. It draws in allegories like the Tower of Babel to symbolize the built environment and Noah's Ark as the politics of survival. Throughout the project I begin to draw in more symbolism such as the Ancient Celtic Goddess Anu, the mother of all things on earth and divine. As I brought my manifesto to life on site, I drew in the Celtic Wheel of the Year, cross referencing the wheel off compass points and the modern clock face to lay out the site according to tree species, animal habitats and food harvesting, with communal outdoor kitchens to celebrate each feast day at each of the 8 sites. The pathways through the site were inspired by the paths of Vice, Virtue and Liberty at Stowe Gardens, again drawing them back to the manifesto dialogue and timeline. The project was greatly inspired by Ancient Irish culture and practice and draws back to pagan ritual and belief at many points, as the manifesto represents the cyclical nature of life. This project leans heavily on historical precedents as a template for the future, with a strong belief that by looking back we may find a way to move forward in this current ecological crisis in order to survive. I have books of research on file from this project which I hope to publish some day as a coherent body of work that lays out the importance of context in future urban environments. There is a lot to learn about how we might create symbiotic relationships with the natural world by looking at what is already around us.