Kenny

an irish practice have recently won the british high density housing award, congrats to them excellent news…. but i cant help but feel its a bit of a kick in the teeth to this designer when fmcd goes on tv celebrating the high density designs of amsterdam and advocating that dublin should follow in its footsteps… which goes back to my initial comment … euro or amsterdam retro? its so openly being advocated … why isnt the RIAI etc taking a more open approach to forward irish architects IN ireland, or are we producing for export.
the opw seem to be pushing ahead with things modern , even the latest block they’re letting in dublin is a contemporary refurb.
bring the new irish architects to the people, get the AAI on tv , give duncan the back seat for a while and show the whole menu!!!!!!

dara h, thanks for your response.
the documents i refer to are the “county developement plans” which we can all view and have the same “UNDEFINED ” word repeated over and over “vernacular”.. what exactly is it in 2002. surely it changes with time.
more importantly i refer to the images displayed on planners office walls, images of the same old modified bungalow bliss stuff with their cross bar windows for measure, which i may add are promoted as being ” designs which have been successful in application “….
you are correct that the housing authorities produce good quality public housing , but the authority is Not the mass population, they are in the minority.
your comment ” easier to keep most people happy in twee style houses” to me sounds defeatest.. its like saying we should continue to issue an architectural sedative , they’ll never know the difference…. wrong , irish people travekl the world , we’re not blind, you know the difference between car models … are houses so different ?……

lets focus on the most important word in my initial topic about japan “PROCESS”
it is my opinion that construction of buildings like baking cakes is not only a matter of knowing the ingredients that form the structure, but most importantly the mastering of how they go together in order to achieve the most perfect finish.
without boring everyone, lets all agree that architecture like all other skills is based on repeat habitual action in order to formulate a pattern / regulations of HOW to & how not to build structures, a LEARNING process. We copy the italians when making good coffee for god sake… why are building so different.. lets be open minded enough and humble enough to learn from a bigger culture, i’m not saying we should copy them , but i dont think we should feel we have nothing to learn from others either.
i think it would be an interesting exercise to view a japanese schedule of works, or invite a japanese contractor to lias on our schedules and fill in the blanks as it were with regard to process, white gloves excluded….i jest.