All posts by a2 architects

A2 Architects win ‘Best House’ at the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2011 for Seaside House, Co. Louth. Citing the awarding jury, “externally the house responds to the informal nature of its seaside location in its relaxed choice of materials and a witty nod to its caravan-neighbours in its choice of bay-size.  This is counterpointed by the calm grandeur of its interior spaces, capturing poetic sea-views informed by rhythmic control of structure and satisfying detailing.”

Peter Carroll co-directs SAUL IU 2011 (School of Architecture University of Limerick Intelligence Unit 2011) with Professor Merritt Bucholz. The research work, entitled ‘A-political Island: Ireland’s Living Space’ focuses on the counties of Mayo and Fingal. Fundamentally this research project lifts all of the boundaries that define the extent of disciplinary / governance / infrastructure remit, and looks at Living Space the way people experience it – as one continuous place. Lifting the boundaries allows the region to be analysed at a variety of levels simultaneously; movement, energy, education, land use, nature, environment. In this synthetic way of looking at how the physical environment interacts with itself, and society in general, new ideas are being developed. (www.saul.ie/Introduction)

A2 Architects win the open two-stage competition for the new Tullamore Community Arts Centre. The jury praised the design as ‘being permeable, responsive and flexible. It best understood the demands of the brief and the site, finding a balance of ambition and decorum in its architectural language’. Shortlisted practices included Grafton Architects, Lawrence and Long Architects and Robinson McIlwaine Architects. (www.facebook.com/pages/A2-Architects)

A2 Architects receive a special mention at the AAI Awards 2011 for Artist’s Production Space, Vienna. In his commentary, William JR Curtis, one of this year’s jury, said ‘I really like the quietness of it. It has very elegant fenestration, it’s available and inviting, and even the way the space is organised… It’s all very understated.’

A2 Architects are invited to submit a piece of work to the Annual RHA Summer Exhibition 2011, Dublin. The piece, ‘1:2011’, at once the 1:1 scale of a typical Stoneybatter sash window and the more all-encompassing context scale of 1:2000, imbues value and offers critique on strategy, grain, plot, type and dimension of a much-loved part of Dublin City.

A2 Architects are invited to give a lecture on their work to date at Escuala Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura de Granada, Spain. The monthly series of lectures by young European architects is entitled ‘Dialogos’.

House on Mardyke Walk, Cork City goes to tender. A cranking tar-painted volume availing of elevated views rests on a light glazed curtain wall. The ground floor garden has been designed with ThirtyThreeTrees.

A2 Architects are appointed by The Office of Public Works to design a Regional Response Unit for Cahir Garda Station, Co. Tipperary.

Peter Carroll is invited to lecture at ‘Heroes and Anti-Heroes of 20th Century Irish Architecture’ Symposium at The Irish Museum of Modern Art as part of ‘The Moderns’ exhibition running concurrently. The lecture is entitled ‘A Conversation with the City: Andy Devane and St. Mary’s Girls Primary School, King’s Island, Limerick City 1951’.

A2 Architects are supporting The Simon Community’s House of Cards Appeal this Christmas. Money raised during the appeal will provide 5,000 Irish people without homes with a warmer and safer Christmas. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our respective clients, suppliers and friends a very Happy Christmas and New Year. (www.houseofcards.ie)

A2 Architects are invited by Instituto Cervantes to oversee the refurbishment of their exhibition hall at Lincoln Place, Dublin