Marking the centre of the town of Letterkenny in County Donegal, Ireland, is an open space overlooked by the towering steeple of St Eunan’s Cathedral. Beginning its life as a market town in the 17th century, this territory served as a gathering place for trade and social interaction. But where once the square reverberated with the sound of traders’ animated conversations, its life as a locus of activity has been quietened over time by successive phases of disjointed development.
It is within this context that our students were invited to contemplate the capacity of architecture and landscape to effect change, meaningfully and positively. To examine the nature of familiar things – the surface of a path, the scale of a step, the breadth of a roof, the height of a door – and consider how the thoughtful definition and assembly of these may have a profound influence on the character and use of public spaces.
The students’ resultant propositions – each distinct in scale and manner – collectively seek to recover the spirit of the square’s former life and promote new conversations, literally and figuratively, between the denizens of Letterkenny, the square and the broader social and urban territory of which they are a part.
Students
Nora Banne, Nathaniel Brown, Danilo Dubljevic, Yusof El Lamey, Rabaab Hamza, Kyle Neri, Tamila Panahi, Freeha Pasha, Luke Quinn, Natali Shaheen, Jennifer Tie Tie
Rayed Abid, Jamana Begum, Barez Bigzadeh, Ridwan Fadlu-Deen, Pete Goding, Auntik Nabi, Siyeon Oh, Shaumia Sivaneswaran, Martyna Szymczak, Eric Zhao
Studio Tutors
William Guthrie & John Marshall
Guest Critic
Dominic Dudley & Irene Vitorica