3TWENTY10 – RIAI Research Competition
Published: Friday, June 25, 2010
Visit new 3Twenty10 Competition Website Launched 28 September 2010.
Visit the 3TWENTY10 Competition Registration Page
Background
The end of the largest building boom in Ireland’s history has left the nation with the challenge of how to deal with large volumes of development of the wrong type, in the wrong locations and, in the most extreme cases with little future other than demolition.
Notwithstanding the many positive developments during the Celtic Tiger years, and significant improvements to the quality of the country’s built environment, many commentators attribute much of the crises facing us today to our mismanagement of planning, and our failure to co-ordinate private development with public infrastructure during the boom years, with consequent negative impacts on the delivery of essential infrastructure, economic competitiveness and our quality of life.
Despite major strides in Irish architecture over the last decades, and many internationally recognised projects, and successful new building types, architects frequently stand accused along with developers, bankers and politicians.
Architecture must therefore demonstrate its added value and the importance of quality and design in architecture and urbanism to the delivery of Ireland’s economic, social and environmental policy objectives; to deliver attractive and sustainable built environments, to enrich our distinctive culture and heritage, to contribute to the competitiveness of our economy, and to improve quality of life for the people of Ireland, today and in generations to come.
Last year’s RIAI strategic review examined how architects might face up to these challenges, not only in terms of survival, renewal and recovery, but also how the profession might contribute to the wider debate about national recovery and how architects might bring a unique perspective to that discussion.
The Government Policy on Architecture which was published in late 2009 sets out key issues under; Strategy For Architecture; The Need For Evidence And Research Capacity; Leading By Example; Developing The Demand For Quality; And Implementation And Review. This document is supported by the RIAI and provided a background for the RIAI strategic review process.
One outcome of the twelve-month strategic review was the consensus that less work should not mean less analysis and few ideas, rather the opposite. The current recession offers a time for reflection on the achievements and failures of the past decade and how this reflection can feed into positive initiatives for the future.
The resulting Action Plan 2010-13 sets out 11 key policy objectives to promote the value of quality and design in architecture to the advancement of Ireland’s economic, social and environmental policy objectives. In pursuing these objectives the RIAI is now promoting a competition to initiate a number of research-based projects that will put forward solutions to the challenges facing Ireland in dealing with the aftermath of the boom and respond to specific issues in the area of the built environment.
Objective
The RIAI wants to promote the ideas and problem-solving abilities of Architects and develop a number of research projects that will provide solutions to problems in the built environment, whether existing or impending and to give Architects the opportunity take the initiative by providing solutions. Architects are in a unique position given their training, which is based on strategy and lateral thinking to identify and resolve problems.
Through this research competition the RIAI is promoting Architects as the first port of call for responsible, sustainable development.
The Action Plan 2010-2013 which is included in the competition pack, sets out the RIAI’s policy objectives and actions for the promotion, regulation and support of Architecture in Ireland.
Objective 3 of the RIAI Action Plan is to: Champion the theory and practice of Sustainable Development; to combat climate change and to improve quality of life for the people of Ireland, today and generations to come.
Objective 10 of the RIAI Action Plan is to: Promote the need for evidence based research in architecture, conservation, construction, urban design and the built environment – including green enterprise – and identify key research objectives relevant to architectural practice and consumer protection.
Categories: Competitions
