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Posts by shannonchance

Professor Shannon Chance PhD, SFHEA (UK), BArch, MArch, PG Cert (BIM) Registered Architect (Virginia), NCARB, LEED-AP Lecturer and Programme Chair at TU Dublin Visiting Professor at UCL Education Blog: www.IrelandByChance.com
by shannonchance

Thanks to the Irish for Halloween!?!

Thanks to the Irish for Halloween, and to Michelangelo Buonarroti for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, says The Week magazine.

It notes that Wednesday is “Halloween: Brought to the U.S. by Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine.” Oddly, Halloween is the USA’s “second-largest commercial holiday, with Americans spending an estimated $6.9 billion annually.”

that  Gearing up for Halloween in Dublin. Photo by Shannon Chance.

But let’s also not forget Thursday, Nov. 1, is the “500th anniversary of Sistine Chapel ceiling unveiling. …Julius II inaugurated the chapel on All Saints’ Day with a solemn Mass in 1512.”

That is the same day as Halloween.  (It’s the Catholic Churches’ version of Halloween–and the version celebrated in Italy today.)

Michelangelo painted the entire ceiling in just four years. It was frustrating, backbreaking work.

There’s a really amazing website with a 3D version of the chapel that lets you spin around as if you were there.  You shouldn’t pass up seeing this fantastic, interactive model.

Image from the Interactive Sistine Chapel Garden of Eden website. Please check it out!

by shannonchance

Dave Chance’s Two Other Winners

Yesterday, I posted images of three of the winning HRACRE development projects that Dave photographed.  Today’s I’m sharing images of the two other projects that won awards; including the AECOM project that the jury praised so highly in its statement.

Praise from the HRACRE jurors for the awards package submitted by the team that included Hourigan Construction, AECOM architects, and Dave Chance Photography.

Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital designed by PF&A. Image copyright Dave Chance Photography.

The highly-praised award proposal submitted by Hourigan Construction for the team’s work on AECOM‘s Norfolk Headquarters. Photo copyright Dave Chance Photography.

by shannonchance

Tonight’s Guessing Game

Any thought on what there are?  I collected them all today.

No fair guessing if you’re someone I’ve already told.  🙂

Humm? What could they be?

by shannonchance

Added Value–What Happens When You Blog Instead of Tape Record

Máirtín sent me some updates to our conversation today, after reading the blog.  This is the kind of conversation and cultural exchange that I think the Fulbright program is all about.  These are Máirtín’s words:

Order here: Bungalow Bliss. Mairtin downloaded this image from Flicker.

Diane Hamilton (Guggenheim) was the wealthy American that brought Liam Clancy to America, who later appeared on a 20 minute slot on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1961. They achieved fame as ‘The Clancy Brother’s & Tommy Makem’.

It wasn’t just womens’ names, the tradition was that the first child would be called after the mother’s people, giving us names like Bradley, Harrison, Stewart, Rawson, Carroll, and so on and so forth as first names.

This tradition comes from the Ulster Presbyterians, or now Ulster Scots, from the North. There is an Ulster Scots Heritage Park between Strabane and Omagh in Co. Tyrone. In an intersting link to the Blue Ridge Mountains many of the Ulster Scots had the first name ‘William’ after William of Orange, William the Third of Great Britain, victor of the Balltle of the Boyne. So many of them lived in the mountains this is believed to be the origin of the term ‘Hill Billies’.

This is the Book, believed to have brought more shame to Ireland than @Ulysses’.

Bungalow is a Hindi word. In my opinion is that the Irish bungalow is a vernacular version of the traditional cottage. When John Ford made ‘The Quiet Man’ in the west in 1951 he was looking for a perfect Traditional thatched cottage to act as John Wayne’s character’s house ‘White O’Morn’. They found one near Maam Cross. When they were finished, they paid the owner a wedge of money, who used it to build a new house, and demolished the original. What is left has been pilfered by souvenir hunters.

Mairtin sent this image of Dan O Herlihy. IMBD says “Dan O‘Herlihy, Actor: RoboCop. Irish-born Dan O‘Herlihy decided not to follow in his father’s footsteps, forsaking the life of an architect in favour of the acting.”

I also meant to say that another famous (kind of) architect who became an actor was Dan O Herlihy, from Wexford, who qualified as an architect from UCD and went to Hollywood to become an actor. His most famous role is probably ‘The Old Man’ the head of the evil OCP Coproration in ‘RoboCop’ (1987). I hope you’ve seen it, if not I can lend it to you; a biting satire of Reagan era economics.

He is the father of Lorcan O Herlihy, a well known Los Angeles based architect.

The Director of ‘What Richard Did’ is Lenny Abrahamson, who also directed ‘Adam & Paul’ and ‘Garage’. Very good, but not ‘Feel Good’. Don’t watch on a Sunday night when you have the fears……

by shannonchance

Dave Chance–My Award Winning Photographer

Praise from the HRACRE jurors.

I’ve got to brag about my Dave today.

He’s a stupendous photographer. And very dedicated to his craft. To get brilliant architectural photographs, he’s up at sunrise nearly every day.  Literally, he’s on site, at the building, when the sun peeks over the horizon.

He can tell you exactly where the sun’s rays will fall at any given point in time.

Dave’s award-winning photo of Via design architects‘ VIMS ESSL building on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

And the hard work pays off. For him and his clients.

Last week, Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate (known as HRACRE) hosted it’s annual awards gala. It gives prizes in 12 categories. FIVE–count em–FIVE of the projects that won awards used photographs by Dave Chance Photography.

At last year’s gala, the speakers emphasized the central role photos play in awards selection. They said the quality of the photos and the entry applications/awards packages has been on the rise.

See what they put in print this year, about one of the projects Dave photographed?  I am so proud!

The new Judicial Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. Designed by HBA and photographed by the one and only Dave Chance.

The new Portsmouth Housing and Redevelopment building. Designed by Via design architects and captured by Dave Chance Photography.

by shannonchance

Awash in Culture–and Wishing I’d Hit Record!

I actually had a voice recording device on me today, but I hadn’t set it up.

I was in Linenhall for a quick, half hour coffee meeting. So, I didn’t think to ask to record until the conversation was too good to stop for something as odd and pragmatic as setting up the iPhone.

I was meeting Máirtin D’Alton (the architect who lead a tour I attended during Open House Dublin, I’ve included a photo to spark your memory).

Following the Tour, I suggested/recommended/fairly much insisted on him for a position at DIT. Sima took my advice, and he’s been working for an hour a week in the 4th year architectural technology studio ever since.

Of course, he’s giving more time than an hour a week to the cause.

He’s being very conscientious in the role–he showed me the prep work he’d done for today.  (I always like to know it’s working out well after I recommend someone!) His prep work must have taken hours.

And, he was also part of a studio crit yesterday that lasted from 9am-7pm. Whew! How exhausting!

He still made time to meet me for coffee before studio today. And, our conversation today was fascinating!  I made a few notes on my phone at the end. They’re below, in rough form but interesting nonetheless.

Typical Irish bungalow. This one located near Killaney. (Photo © Brian Shaw.)

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Bungalows have been the norm for single family detached housing in Ireland–past and present. You’ve been able to buy plan books. There are lots of versions of bungalows out there but they all have basic rectangle with simple hip or gabled roof. They’re getting more complex roofs now. They used to be situated with the gable end toward the SW to capture breeze and solar energy, but by now many town councils have regulated they should face street. Hedgerows have been removed to allow roads to be widened. This has changed the composition of Irish towns greatly. They don’t reflect nature or the social fabric the same way as in the past.

The Irish fascination with the TV show “Dallas” lead to over abundance if houses mimicking that style, especially in the north.

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New-fangled bungalow in Tralee, used as a B&B. Downloaded from property listing website.

We discussed WalMart’s development strategy and how this plays out with IKEA around the globe and with Carrefour and the like in France. In France, the big box stores on outskirts have strangled small businesses, much like in the USA.  (IKEA has been getting big press for plans to go green lately, but they really must address the longevity and up-cycling of their products. Their solar lights are very poor quality and they break with little use.)

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Irish traditional music was almost dead in the 1960s. A Guggenheim sister came and did recordings (i.e., qualitative research).  She brought a group to NYC (she had a close relationship with one of the group). The group was set to play for two minutes on a TV show, but due to a cancellation they ended up with 20 minutes to play. They resorted to playing tunes their mom had taught them. This show brought out American enthusiasm; it was wildly popular in the US. This sparked a revival of traditional music on Ireland. (Interestingly, Fulbright Ireland has a big role in preserving Irish language today.)

Image by John Moore / Getty Images / AAP, from the article Totally green: IKEA pledges to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2020.

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Regarding names: it was popular in the north to use the mother’s last name (surname or family name) as the child’s first name. That’s how names like Kelly and Shannon would have started bring used as first names.
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Jimmy Stewart biography.

In our discussion, I posited that architectural pedagogy is becoming more relevant to society while the architecture profession is becoming less and less relevant (the irony is that education has a big role to play in instilling the types of values that are causing this demise, as well as instilling a sense of curiosity and engagement that makes architecture grads so valuable to other fields).

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Mairtin told me that Jimmy Stewart studied architecture at Princeton. He then bagged it, and went into acting. He played in a film set in the Shenandoah Valley, that Máirtin watched last weekend.
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…Máirtin has offered to show Esther Serchi and me some important sights on the outskirts of Dublin, while she’s visiting in a week.
by shannonchance

Guesses?

You see a lot of these around Europe. They look a lot different in Rome and Switzerland, though, where they’re still in use. Any guesses what they’r for?

This one is located near the Marsh Library in Dublin 2.  It looks so sad and unappreciated. I saw another one in a similar state the other day (in Kilkenny, I think).

I’m going to bed now (it’s 12:33 AM), but I’ll send you a gold-star cookie if you guess right while I’m asleep!

Can you figure it out?

by shannonchance

Upcoming Talks

Richard Hayes engaged with students in a hands-on course at the Dublin Institute of Technology. (Copyright Shannon Chance, March 2012).

I’m giving two talks next week that you’re welcome to attend.

Tuesday I’ll discuss “A View from the Outside: Transforming Pedagogy at the DIT.” It’s part of a College Education Seminar entitled “Building a Student-Centred Programme – A College Case Study.”

Thursday I’ll discuss “Transformational Education at the DIT” to help celebrate the launch of DIT’s 2012-13 Teaching Fellowship program.

The photo I’ve attached shows the types of hands-on learning experiences electrical engineering students get at the DIT these days.

Fulbright Ireland website’s includes full details about the talks.

by shannonchance

Gray Sky Blues

Another rainy day in Dublin.  Here’s hoping the sun breaks through.  It almost always does each day–sooner or later.  I’ve attached an example of sunshine after rain, taken as I was crossing Dame Street on October 2.

Reflection on Dame Street. Copyright Shannon Chance, 2012.

by shannonchance

Lifted!

Steven Best’s lecture on work he did in Norma Foster’s office in 1996 (where he was working with Thomas Leslie from Iowa State, the son of my dissertation advisor David Leslie). I enjoyed this slide of the architect carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. The image has Calvinist underpinnings, Steven Best said.

After a rather weighty lecture at the Dublin School of Architecture–in which my colleague from the States, Tom Leslie, was referenced by name–I bolted over to my yoga class with Joe Saflund at The elbowroom.

On the way home, I decided to “give myself a lift” by stepping into The Cobblestone Pub to enjoy a half-pint and a few songs.  I put in two long workdays in a row and thought I’d blow off some steam.

Once inside, I discovered Tomás is more than a talented bartender… he plays guitar and sings as well.  He’s shown in the photo alongside his uilleann pipe-playing cousin …and, well, any cousin of Tomás is a cousin of mine!

Such a wonderful, small world!

My favorite yoga instructor in Dublin is Joe Saflund, shown here in side angle pose.

Tomás Mulligan hard at work, making music at The Cobblestone.