Thursday May 19 2022, 19:00 – 20:30
The Space Between, 28 Fenian Street, Dublin 2
Patrons & Principles | Maremoto
maremoto is an RIAI registered architecture & interior design studio based in Dublin led by Rob Curley & Alfonso Bonilla. They are passionate about sustainable urban development, and consider it their social responsibility as architects and urbanists to criticise the financialization of housing, which continues to hinder the development of liveable, affordable and equitable built environments. As architects, they endeavour to use their understanding of housing policy in Ireland to highlight these issues, and actively work with communities to support and empower them.
Using recent examples of housing in Ireland & extrapolating it with policy, maremoto reminds us of the need to reflect upon the social consequences & the inescapable political nature of the Architecture discipline. This talk is an invitation for Architects & the general public to engage with Housing Policy more publicly & proactively.
We have entered a new period for Built Environments & Societies, best described as “Asset Urbanism”, where our built environments, particularly housing, are perpetually changing in their physical form and social life to improve their capacity to perform as assets. This has taken specific and different shapes around the world, but the consequences have been universal: costs of rent & homeownership have risen, opportunities to own have decreased, disposable income has plummeted & thus the opportunities for individuals & households to grow, engage in entrepreneurial activity, have security of tenure, and ultimately to find or create opportunities to live in dignified conditions in desirable places are rapidly disappearing.While the mechanisms of housing provision change from place to place, there is another common denominator that either allows or mitigates the transformation of homes into wealth creating assets: Government policies. In Ireland, we have witnessed policies that have been introduced, changed housing policy & failed to deliver for years. In this talk, maremoto will describe the impact of policies that have had a long-term detrimental effects on housing & housing delivery and why it’s important to discuss them in detail, both candidly and seriously.A challenging aspect of the Housing Crisis is that individuals tend to feel powerless in the face of the world of housing policy, finance & global economics. This is no accident; oftentimes, politicians, economists and even bankers are portrayed as the astute commentators with simple solutions & repetitive mantras that will lead us out of the crisis. In reality, the conversations leading the changes in policy often come from individuals with big platforms but no expertise and this puts the Architecture discipline at a disadvantage.
As Architects, we are obliged to understand policy, regulations & find compliant solutions even when the discourse by non-architects ends up setting the rules of the game that we end up complying with. Through a participatory conversation, maremoto will invite all attendees to participate in dispelling the mantras that dominate the media & to understand why certain assertions made about housing, delivery, tenure & typologies can be problematic or indeed unhelpful in solving the housing crisis.We all suffer the consequences of the housing crisis and it is easy to find this subject overwhelming or beyond our sphere of influence, when in reality it is real life conversations that can turn the dominating political discourse that is steering us further into the crisis away from an impending social catastrophe.
This talk is a call for optimism & enthusiasm for all Architects & attendees to help engage with the housing crisis and a reminder to question the role of our discipline in systems of oppression & inequality as an inescapable part of our professional judgement.
Rob holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from University College Dublin and also studied at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He has previously worked for award winning practices including ODOS Architects and RKD Architects on a variety of residential and commercial projects including the 100,000sqm Dublin Landings mixed-use development.Alfonso holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from University College Dublin with studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and a Bachelors Degree in Architecture & Urbanism from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Alfonso is the first Mexican National to become a Registered Architect in Ireland, and has previously worked for award winning practices in Ireland, Mexico and Canada including The House Architects, Zozaya Arquitectos and Michael Green Architecture where he collaborated on the development of the Wood Innovation Design Centre, the then world’s tallest all-timber building.