Architects imagine a "Super-Rural" Ireland in 2030

One third of all homes in Ireland have been built since 1995, the great majority of them outside the major urban centres. This free-market, unsustainable solution to housing throughout the island has resulted in sub-urban sprawl: choking our urban centres, devastating the countryside and destroying our traditional sense of community. But are there new models for development that have been overlooked?

The nine Irish architectural practices that are representing Ireland at the prestigious Venice Biennale 10th International Architecture exhibition from September 10th think so. Curated by FKL Architects for the Irish Architecture Foundation and supported by Culture Ireland, the Arts Council, the Devey Group, the RIAI and Tegral, Ireland's exhibition in the 2006 Venice Architectural Biennale features nine projects and scenarios that imagine and illustrate a vision of how our SubUrban island can evolve into a 'SuperRural' one between now and 2030.

Fluidcity by Dominic Stevens Architect is a river Shannon-borne caravanserai of amenities, bringing the city to a much increased riverside population once a week. MacGabhann Architects' Tideaways proposes 'sinkable' seaside holiday villages in Donegal that are only visible when occupied, disappearing into the ground when nobody's at home. Heneghan Peng suggest building a high-speed rail bridge from Rosslare to Fishguard to turn Dublin into an ElastiCity stretched along the Irish Sea instead of a blob spreading out over the midlands. Demographics (Henchion+Reuter Architects) suggests concentrating Ireland's population strictly within a five city penta-zone that could support Danish-style high-speed trains to 'shrink' Ireland - travel time from Dublin to Sligo would go from 3h20m to 48 minutes!

While some of the exhibitions propose solutions, others pose questions. 26+1 by Boyd Cody Architects asks what we would do if we could start from scratch with an extra, empty county. dePaor Architects' tall-house looks at the impact a planning law change to ban all footprint extension outside urban areas might have: what if you could only build up or down, not out?

And what if we do nothing at all? Vertical Sprawl by ODOS Architects is a cautionary tale, in comic-book style, of what happens when horizontal suburban expansion is no longer possible in 2030.

Ireland's entry has been commissioned by the Irish Architecture Foundation at the invitation of Culture Ireland. Culture Ireland Director Mary McCarthy noted 'as a newly formed body, Culture Ireland is delighted to partner with the Irish Architecture Foundation in raising these pertinent questions which are shaping Ireland's contemporary culture.'

To coincide with the opening of Ireland's entry in the Padiglione Italia, Giardini di Castello, Venice, a special section of the Irish Architecture Foundation's website has been created and will go live on September 6, 2006: www.architecturefoundation.ie

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