Irish Housing Design 1950 – 1980

Gary A. Boyd is Professor and Head of Architecture at Queen’s University, Belfast. A Leverhulme Major Research Fellow (2018-2021), he was also project leader for a Getty Foundation Keeping it Modern award to conduct research on the conservation of St Brendan’s School, Birr by the architects Peter and Mary Doyle (2018-19). In 2014, he was joint commissioner-curator of Infra-Éireann – the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Architectural Biennale – and assumed a similar role in Making Ireland Modern which toured as part of the Irish Arts Council’s centennial celebrations in 2016. Written works include authoring Hospital, Spectacle and Vice: Dublin 1745-1922 (2005) and co-editing Ordnance: War + Architecture & Space (2013) and Infra Éireann: Infrastructure and the Architectures of Modernism in Ireland 1914-2014 (2015).Dr. Brian Ward is a lecturer in the Dublin School of Architecture at the Technological University Dublin. Having graduated from UCD Architecture, he worked with a number of award-winning practices in Ireland. His PhD examined the history of town planning in Edwardian Dublin, in particular the contributions of Raymond Unwin, CR Ashbee and John Nolen. Brian has contributed to various publications on modern architecture and town planning in Ireland. During 2019 he curated an exhibition on Marion Mahony Griffin for the Irish Architecture Foundation.Michael Pike is Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin and a Director of GKMP Architects. In 2017 he completed a Research Masters on the work of the Catalan architect, José Antonio Coderch (1913-84). The work of GKMP Architects is primarily concerned with the design of domestic space, both individual houses and housing projects. The practice has received a significant number of architectural awards and has been exhibited and published internationally, including at the Venice Biennale 2018 and the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015.

• List of figuresAbout the editorsAbout the contributorsIntroductionIrish Housing Design at the CrossroadsGary A. Boyd, Michael Pike and Brian Ward1 Housing Indigenous Industry: Bord na Mona settlements in the 1950sCarole Pollard2 ‘As easy as plugging in a fire’: Modernity, Morality and the Mespil Apartments 1958-72Gary A. Boyd3 The High Life: Ardoyne House, 1962–1967Kevin Donovan4 The Sharp Edge of Newness: Situating the Simmonscourt Apartments 1964 - 1966Aoibheann Ní Mhearáin and Brian Ward5 Shared Vision, Shared Courtyards: Dundanion Court, Cork 1964 – 1968Sarah Mulrooney6 An Architecture of Connections: the Ballybrack Cooperative 1969-72Brian Ward7 Castlepark: a vernacular architecture for modern Ireland 1969-72Brian Ward8 The Coombe North: Roads, Activism and an Architecture for Dublin’s Liberties 1968-1978Miriam Delaney 9 The Expression of Method: Six Houses at Herbert Road 1976-1979Orla Murphy Index