LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA OPENING
MAY 2016
The collaborative project between Yeoryia Manolopoulou and Niall McLaughlin ‘Losing Myself’ opened on the 27th May for the Irish pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. An opening speech was given by the Irish Ambassador for Italy Bobby McDonagh.
The project is a reflection on the lessons learned through a decade of designing buildings for people with dementia. It has two complementary components: a website that collates a mosaic of conversations, drawings, stories and experiments around the subject of dementia; and an immersive installation that tries to envisage a building we designed for people with dementia through their own experiences. The installation questions the notion of the building as a singular conception, and by extension, those architectural representations that insist upon buildings as finite and whole objects.
Please see below for a list of articles on Losing Myself
DesignBoom
Dezeen
ArchDaily
Divisare
Il Sole 24 Ore
giornale dell’architectura
RIBA EDUCATION REVIEW PRESENTATION
MARCH 2015
Niall gave a presentation to the RIBA Education Review at a specially convened Forum and Council, which debated significant changes to the structure of architectural education. Niall spoke about the relationship between education and practice, arguing for a lifelong cycle of practice and education.
“Education should not end with RIBA Part III, or even limp along through minimum prescribed CPD events. It should no longer be possible for an architect to finish their education. I propose a more comprehensive model of life-long learning. If practitioners come back to the schools throughout their lives, they will be constantly invigorated and, by extension, they will constantly invigorate the schools to which they return. This would constitute a discourse – in the sense of a ferrying back and forth – in which practice and education are both part of a seamless continuity. The purpose of education is not so much the acquisition of set skills but – to borrow a phrase from John Hattie – learning how to learn. Once you have done this, you have built an engine for a lifetime of renewal.”