Archinect - Features

Studio Visits: MMAS

2017-08-11T13:33:00-04:00

This week I went to visit MMAS, a Belfast based practice, in their studio, a converted mill just outside of the city centre. MMAS are a small practice, but their studio, full of models, drawings, sketches and ideas scribbled on whiteboards, is a dynamic place. I really enjoyed hearing their passion for the city in which they live and work.

Holidays and Bonfires

2017-08-07T05:39:00-04:00

July is not a usual month in Belfast. It’s holiday time — north coast beaches, infinite Donegal sands, the beautiful flat half-light of dusk of the western coast. For others it’s a time to play their part in, what is for some a controversial historical narrative that has, one way or another been weaving its way down through Ulster’s history — bonfires and marches. July is a month of distractions — holidays and bonfires. What a strange time then for the pre-planning consultations for two controversial schemes in the city to take place.

What we do as architects is not neutral: it is political

2017-07-05T05:30:00-04:00

I started writing this on the 13th of June. It was going to be a piece on the importance of critical engagement for sole or small practitioners. Thoughts on why, generally, as architects, we don't engage with other practices as much as we should; why it is important to do so; and to tell you about something we did here in Belfast to begin to explore how we might address this issue. Then, on the morning of the 14th of June, we all woke up to the news. The pictures. Smartphone footage. Tweets. Stories. Silhouettes of ghostly figures standing in smoke-filled rooms behind double glazed windows. The recordings of firefighters as they first saw the 24-storey, 67m high building that moments later they would be entering — “Fuck me, there’s children in there, there’s fucking children in there”. The numbers; statistics; faces of missing loved ones and the beginnings of public displays of collective grief soon to be followed by anger and protests.

Chasing rabbits — tales from a new practice.

2017-05-19T05:30:00-04:00

My first entry into the practice diaries is apt. Last week I launched a new architects practice LōF architects. I use the plural, but sat in my office — a small room at the bottom of my garden with just about enough room for either me or a swinging cat, but not both — I realise that the ’s’ is more a statement of future intent than a present reality. It’s really just me on my own.