Sunday, June 1st, 2003
Interesting article by Shane O’Toole in today’s Sunday Times on the Mies Van der Rohe architecture awards which is only slightly marred by Shane’s tendency towards Irish-Architecture-boosterism. Maybe it’s the editing but the article was flagged as showcasing Ireland’s architecture’s arrival on the world stage (based on the presence of two Irish architects on the shortlist): highlighting Shane’s breathless announcement that..
“Our presence is equivalent to all of Scandinavia or central and eastern Europe combined.”
More intriguing than this underwhelming observation is the real substance of the article which is that virtually all of the works considered by the panel, on which O’Toole sat, to be examplars of the best of European architecture were located in the, conventionally derided, suburbs. This cuts against much of received wisdom and merits further exploration, Shane’s article is a pretty good start.