RIAI Conference 2024

Over 2,000 delegates joined us for the RIAI Conference 2024 in the RDS on 9 and 10 October and online. The RIAI Conference is the largest built environment event in Ireland. There was a great buzz in the RDS Main Hall, as conference delegates enjoyed presentations and discussions by close to 30 speakers on #Cities, networked with colleagues and friends, visited the IABS and the RIAI Pop-Up Bookshop, and saw the latest building technology at the Architecture + Building Expo, our event partners. The RIAI Conference was sponsored by the OUTHAUS Group, who have been supporting the conference since 2016.

The conference has attracted great press coverage including an interview with Sydney City Architect, Bridget Smyth on Newstalk Breakfast , conference coverage in the Sunday Business Post  and an extensive interview with Shane de Blacam in the Irish Examiner.

A sincere thank you to all delegates for attending, with many sharing how much they enjoyed the conference with us.

On Wednesday 9 October, RIAI President Sean Mahon FRIAI opened the RIAI Conference with a call for the next Government to be brave and make the necessary choices, including to remove blockages and inefficiencies in the public procurement and review and rework of the Public Works Contract. Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD shared in a special conference message how central Architects are to the National Development Plan.

Bridget Smyth, City Architect for the City of Sydney and John Moran, Mayor of Limerick City and County shared their visions for ‘creating sustainable cities’. Muyiwa Oki, RIBA President discussed ‘what is next for cities’ with David McRedmond and Máire Henry FRIAI from the Government’s taskforce on Dublin City Centre; and with David Browne FRIAI and Jim Coady FRIAI from Irish Cities 2070. John Pawson CBE delivered an inspiring and memorable lecture – it’s all architecture – which was introduced by photographers and filmmakers Orla Connolly and Jens Weber, who have been documenting John’s work for many years. Writer Roddy Doyle shared his thoughts on Cities and how his characters navigate their urban environment and create their individual geographies in a fascinating conversation with Professor Hugh Campbell.  

There was also fantastic engagement with the next generation of Architects and Architectural Technologists through the RIAI Emerging Awards and RIAI Student Awards, presented by RIAI President Sean Mahon and RIAI CEO Kathryn Meghen. A fantastic addition was the Constructive Interference exhibition by 400 Architecture students from six schools of Architecture involved in the Building Change initiative, on the upper level of the exhibition hall. Supported by the RIAI, Building Change is a Higher Education Authority Human Capital Initiative.

On Thursday, 10 October, RIAI President Sean Mahon FRIAI introduced the RIAI’s Election Manifesto including a call for integrated 3-dimensional planning for our cities and major urban centres to allow for the creation of well-planned, well-functioning and sustainable neighbourhoods.  

In a session on ‘inclusive cities’, Teresa Novais from aNC arquitectos in Porto emphasised the need for dialogue with communities, while Dr Jackie Bourke highlighted how we must understand the city from the perspective of children and teenagers.’ Fingal County Architect, Fionnuala May FRIAI, shared some of the work in Fingal on inclusive cities.

The next session shifted the focus on ‘creating sustainable city infrastructure’. Professor Karen Wiltshire, Chair of Climate Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, set out the challenge for coastal cities and solutions applied in Germany. Architect Seán Harrington of Seán Harrington Architects, and engineer Tiago Oliviera from ARUP presented designs and processes to create people-focused cities.

Architect Shane de Blacam FRIAI – recipient of the RIAI Gandon Medal, RIAI Gold Medal and Royal Academy Architecture Prize 2023 – delivered a memorable lecture, entitled ‘Cork and Dublin Buildings, The Importance of Materials’.

The conference concluded with a topical session on ‘Housing in Cities’ with Marcus Donaghy MRIAI and Will Dimond FRIAI (Donaghy Dimond Architects) presenting their RIAI award-winning Research on ‘Model Housing - Urban Horticulture’, Niall Rowan MRIAI (DTA Architects) discussing their award-winning ‘Infill Housing and Parish Centre, Rathmines’, and Karen McEvoy FRIAI (Bucholz McEvoy Architects) presenting an exciting holistic new masterplan for Cleeves Riverside Quarter, Limerick.

The conference was chaired by our wonderful MCs and RIAI Fellows, Róisín Murphy FRIAI and Peter Hynes FRIAI. Triona Stack MRIAI and her colleagues from the IABS provided important updates on the work of the charity.

Sincere thanks also to Cement Manufacturers Ireland who supported the Student admission and to Minima who provided a stylish stage set.

We look forward to seeing RIAI Members at more RIAI events over the coming months.