Many thanks to Glen McClure for introducing us Chances to the Irish “salad plate.” (I always take a bite before I remember to take a snapshot for you!)
This is a “Achill salmon salad plate.”
Salad Plate
Month / October 2012
High Tech in Kilkenny
A vist to the Rothe House in downtown Kilkenny, with Mom.
We learned a bit about technology over the centuries during our visit to Kilkenny’s Rothe House this weekend… everything from timber frame construction, to cooking techniques, to fashion.
The Rothe House also provided a diagram of the garderobe, to help you understand the toilet system used throughout Europe from the medieval ages until the Industrial Revolution. Unlike this one, in most of the castles around Kilkenny, the garderobe was inside the wall and accessed through a corridor in the wall. They hung clothes in this corridor, because the acid in the air deterred mites and bugs.
Of course, there’s always been the option of a chamber pot. I’ve provided a reflection shot of an antique shop that has two chamber pots for sale.
Chamber pots for sale.
Garderobe diagram
Description of the guarderobe.
How’s this for style? I’d have thought this metal contraption was for fishing, not wearing!
Innovative cooking methods.
The Roth House’s magnificent timber roof structure.
A vist to the Rothe House in downtown Kilkenny, with Mom.
Contemplating Race
On an invitation from Joanne (from the Fulbright Commission here in Ireland), I decided to attend a book launch on the subject of race last night. What a fascinating view of history I discovered!
I learned a huge amount from the people who spoke at the event (Seamus Deannes, Bruce Nelson Nelson, and Kevin Whelan), which was held at the University of Notre Dame’s O’Connell House. I met people from Dublin and beyond, including a professor from South Bend who is also a priest and political historian here doing research himself.
Bruce Nelson’s book launch at Notre Dame’s Center in Dublin. Joanne Davidson, from the Fulbright Commission in Ireland, is seated in the middle.
I’m very interested in this topic, social construction of the concept of race… in Ireland and at home in the US.
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I’ve been spending more time in my engineering office — it’s very comfortable now that the heat is on there. I haven’t turned ours on at the apartment, because the southern exposure usually warms it sufficiently.
I conducted my first interview using phenomenology as the framework (in this office) today! I’m going to start transcribing it momentarily.
My office on Church Lane.
I’m pleased to report that I successfully biked across town today. I couldn’t bear to go the wrong way down a one-way street like everyone seems to do here. I decided to push the bike three blocks instead of figuring out where the street was that went the way I wanted to go!
And, I made it to the library I love on Bolton Street, with minor evidence of my ride this time (only a small spot on my gear-changing hand this time).
Made it across town today, by bike, without incident. 🙂
Magazine on my *all* areas of study: Engineering, Design, and the Built Environment. The Education sources are also here at this library!
The Faces of Floyd (and Someday Mayo)
There’s a wonderful article in today’s Roanoke Times about Glen McClure and the show he’s opening this weekend in southwestern Virginia (my birthplace). Dave will be attending the opening, along with Marshall McClure, Glen’s awesome wife.
Meanwhile, back at the Irish ranch, I’m pulling together a proposal in hopes of showing photographic work by Dave, Glen, and myself in Dublin. Fingers crossed!
This kind of cultural exchange is what the Fulbright program (and my job as a Fulbright Scholar) is all about. I’m trying to help people understand each other better, in so many respects. That’s also the point of the social science research I’m doing here.
Dubliners: If you know a gallery that might like to exhibit Landscapes of Mayo by Glen, Faces of Mayo by Glen, Vestiges of Ireland by Dave, and/or Reflections of Ireland by Shannon, please drop me a line!
A Stunning River Valley
Mom has been out in County Kerry the past four days, seeing the place her grandmother grew up and meeting her distant cousin, Eilish O’Hanlon. Dave and I had the pleasure of meeting Eilish and her husband Con in 2003 and am thrilled Mom finally got the chance to know them.
They live quite close to the mouth of the River Shannon.
I’ve attached a beautiful photo, taken farther up the River Shannon, that my friend Glen McClure shared on Facebook some weeks back. It makes me want to get back there soon. I caught a glimpse of the River recently myself, as the train sped over it on the way to Westport last Monday.
Doesn’t this ad make you want to visit Shannon?
Westport
The canal running through downtown Westport.
It never ceases to amaze me that they serve lasagna with fries (called chips or wedges). Here, potato chips are called “crisps”.
The Protestant church in Westport.
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A contemporary sculpture next to the IshSko Center.
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Reflections on news.
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The “octagon” in Westport.
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A favorite archway… Glen McClure brought us here last month.
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This is a “Achill salmon salad plate”. Many thanks to Glen McClure for helping me figure out what a “salad plate” is.
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The train knew I was coming. All the train cars are brand-spanking new.
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The Cullan brothers sat across from me on the train. Our Macs communed. (And my iPhone distorted their heads… live and learn!)
Cooling our Heels at a Round Tower House
Dave and Shannon at Coolhill Castle. Photo by Seán O’Brien.
Gaining entree into a castle that’s closed to the public is a thrilling event. During our stay in Kilkenny, Dave and I visited the Office of Public Works (OPW) and borrowed the keys to Clare and Burnchurch Castles.
Imelda, Shannon, and Seán talk with Lima about conservation work underway at the castle. Photo by Dave Chance Photography.
Since we seemed so interested, the OPW staff invited us to visit Coolhill Castle as well, which is currently under renovation. The highlight of our visit to this particular Castle was meeting a couple of photography enthusiasts (Seán O’Brien and his neighbor, Imelda Maguire) where we left our cars to head across a field to the castle.
Since Dave and I had an appointment to go into the castle, we invited Seán and his Imelda to join us.
Inside the castle, we all had a fun time visiting with Liam and his colleagues from the OPW who were doing conservation work there.
The photos I am posting from our visit to Coolhill Castle were taken by Dave Chance and Seán. You can see some of Seán’s work, Imelda’s work, and of course Dave’s work online.
Imelda, Liam, Shannon, and Dave enjoying views of the landscape around Coolhill Castle. Photo by Seán O’Brien.
Hats Off to Grafton Architects
Looking toward the southwest, with the smokestack of the Jameson Distillery and in the background. Smithfield Lofts is in the lower center of the image. (Photo from Apple Maps.)
Joan Calahin, an architect I met on the Open House Dublin tour of Smithfield, told me that the building where we live was the result of a design competition. The site was blighted and a competition was held to fill it in a skillful way. The wood used on the exterior hadn’t been weathering well (raising the ire of the public), and it was recently treated and stained. Today the wood looks great!
Smithfield Lofts, designed by Grafton Architects.
The architects were Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of the firm Grafton Architects. Their webpage about the project could really use Dave’s photographic prowess (the photos of this project really don’t do it justice). But I assure you, the design is worthy of an award. I could tell that from several thousand miles away (on the property rental site, Daft.ie).
Sima says Grafton Architects is her favorite firm in Ireland, but notes that fact they haven’t had this project professionally photographed shows that they’re not all that proud of it.
They would have had that done if they had entered it for a design award, for instance. And, the firm’s list of design awards is quite impressive, so they know what they’re doing in many regards.
Although this building reflects quality design, it’s not Grafton Architects’ very best work. I have a number of critiques despite the fact that I enjoy the quality of life it affords me.
And, it has gotten an enthusiastic response from many people (including my apartment-hunting self).
In February 2007, The Irish Times stated “This smart looking building… is situated in the city centre on a landmark site on the corner of Dublin’s Church Street and North King Street. Striking design by Grafton Architects marks it out as one of the more well-thought out, visually appealing apartment schemes.”
Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell accepted the Silver Lion award at the Venice Bienaale on 29 August 2012. (Photo from the RIAI website.)
In April that year, the same paper featuredthe two designers:
“Carrying the international standard for Ireland’s architects are McNamara and Farrell, who founded Grafton Architects in Dublin in 1977. If you want a university campus sketched up, they’re the people to go to — but these days, sadly, they’re hard to commission when it comes to designing one-off homes. Farrell and McNamara have been at the forefront developing Ireland’s architectural reputation abroad — in 1999/2000, they won the design competition for Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, a project set to be completed at the end of this year. In 2003 they were honoured with the European Union’s Mies van der Rohe award for their civic offices in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. McNamara was the first architect to be elected to Aosdana, Ireland’s academy of artists, and both she and Farrell lecture at UCD. Between the civic and cultural buildings that have become their hallmark, they still occasionally design the odd private home — but such projects are unusual. They have designed and built houses and apartments in Dublin, Mayo, Galway and Clare, winning numerous awards from the RIAI and AAI. McNamara built her own mews home, where she lives with her husband, the painter Michael Kane, which incorporates a studio. In 1999, the firm’s Hall House, a stacked structure on a corner site in Ranelagh, and Dix House, in Howth, were exhibited by the RIAI. But it was Grafton’s Two Mews Houses on Clyde Lane that garnered the most honours, winning AAI and RIAI awards in 1993 and gaining a special commendation at The Sunday Times Irish Building of The Year award ceremony in 1994.”
Looking from the south. (Photo from Apple Maps.)
Working, Actually
Multi-use space under the coffee dock.
I haven’t been posting much about the work I’m doing (my readership statistics plummet when I do!!?!). Nevertheless, I have been working!
Yesterday, I spent the morning transcribing and completing my reading of the methods chapters from several different dissertations.
I met Gavin outside the “coffee dock” to discuss our projects over packed lunches. The whole place was very crowded so we found a seat in the area of the cafeteria reserved for teachers.
Lunch with Gavin.
Most of DIT’s buildings with classrooms have a cafeteria, as well as a coffee kiosk (which they call a coffee dock), and other places to hang out or eat a packed lunch. I’m including of a gathering/eating/meeting space in the engineering building on Bolton Street. In this picture, I’m looking down from the coffee dock to a multi-use sort of space filled with students.
I love these types of in-between spaces that encourage social interaction… you’ll find them in all of the school buildings designed by the Dutch architects Herman Hertzberger, for instance.
After lunch, Gavin and I headed to a three-hour meeting of the Educational Research Group for the College of Engineering and the Built Environment. We spent several hours discussing similarities and differences between phenomenology and phenomenography. Let me know if you want me to Skype you in for our next session! 😉
Three of our six seminar participants — Gavin, Eric, and Sima.
Watching Brian Bowe, Head of Learning Development, bring phenomenography to life!
Open House Dublin
Mom admiring the horses at the plaza in Smithfield, historically used as a livestock market.
Visiting Saint Francis at St. Augustine and St. John’s Catholic Church (built in 1874) with my mom.
I almost missed out. Open House Dublin ran Thursday to Sunday, and I didn’t realize it was going on until late on Saturday. But I made the most of the offerings on Sunday.
Before they started, I spent some time with Mom, Mary, and Tim. They headed off for the fabulous Beatty Library and I for several Open House tours.
This annual event is hosted by the Irish Architecture Foundation. In one day, I got to attend three tours:
- Everyday Landmarks, conducted by Lisa C. who authors the blog Built Dublin.
- Dublin Docklands, conducted by Mairtin D’Alton of the firm GCA.
- Busarus bus station’s panoramic roof cafe.
I was exhausted by the end of the day, and so thankful that Tim and Mary showed me the ropes of ordering take out. That’s something I’ve only ever done twice before in my life… I’ll definitely be doing that again. It was so easy using Takeaway Dublin.
Lisa describing the former Richmond Surgical Hospital, recently used as a courts building. (Good buildings can support all kinds of uses!)
The bus station’s concrete structure.
Mairtin describing cutting edge techniques used in Dublin’s 1940s bus terminal.
A view from the top. Every piece of the building was custom-detailed.
A view through the penthouse cafe, reflecting Dublin’s eclectic skyline.
Ireland by Chance 