Lightning Presentation

Changing the Irish Construction industry to tackle the housing and climate emergency is enduring an attritious battle. Grappling with policy and legislation takes years to see positive outcomes. Fighting bureaucracy and red tape consumes an enormous amount of time, effort and cost. Urgency seems to be lost on legislators and while we wait for things to change people begin to fall through the cracks. Planning legislation can massively delay progress and a project that should only take 18-24 months can spiral into many more years while trapped in stage 2a. The Irish Construction Industry as it is now has too much inertia to make effective change urgently. What sort of projects can we break ground on tomorrow? With everything we already have at hand. What can we accomplish within exempted development. How can we work around Planning legislation to rapidly deploy housing at scale to meet our needs. Ephemeral projects that don’t have to be forever but are stopgaps to get people homed until the wheels can finally catch up.

The illegal architect. Johnathan hill.

Guerilla architecture

Making social change

The distribution of land

Thesis Intention

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Irish construction industry/economy is a lethargic beast, burdened by the enormous weight of bureaucracy, (sometimes necessary) planning legislation, NIMBYism, stakeholder’s consent and shareholder’s interests. Private equity groups suck the life out of every square millimetre of potential, and the state’s reluctance to spend any money have led us to a crisis. The construction machine had too much inertia to make effective change with any amount of urgency.

It's time to declare construction martial law. A State of Emergency has been enacted and sods of turf need to be turned TOMORROW, lest any more people desperate for a place to live fall through the cracks.

What is exempted development? What loopholes exist within the current planning legislation? What is zoning and who does it benefit? A home may never be a cowshed but a cowshed could be a home.

What sort of projects can we break ground on tomorrow? With everything we already have at hand. With land, materials and expertise already at our disposal. How can we rapidly deploy housing at scale to meet our needs urgently.

These projects may only be ephemeral, a stopgap solution that is focused on sufficiency and efficiency, instead of an ultimate quality of space. Projects that only need to last until adequate reforms can be made to the industry, from top down and bottom up, to create permanent systems that can finally support our needs.

Figure 1 Skip House, Caukin Studio