ARCH-IVE INTERVIEW
JUNE 2020
On Tuesday 23rd June at 19.00, Arch-ive will be speaking to Níall McLaughlin about the literature that has influenced his practice, as part of the Architecture Foundation’s ‘100 Day Studio’.
Arch-ive is an online platform that investigates the books that have been influential to leading practitioners. It aims to showcase architects’ relationship to books and the way they utilise, interrogate, and display architectural resources.
The ‘live’ interview will take a slightly different format, focusing on specific buildings completed by Níall McLaughlin and the literature that surrounded their investigation. The discussion will focus initially on the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin and Níall McLaughlin Architect’s work at the 2016 Venice Biennale, ‘Losing Myself’. Secondly, the conversation will focus on three projects from Níall’s early career, ‘The Shack’, ‘Phototropic’, and ‘Wandsworth House’. Finally, we will discuss ‘Bishop Edward King Chapel’ in Oxford.
AYR MASTERPLAN
FEBRUARY 2017
In collaboration with acclaimed international land artist Charles Jencks the masterplan for Ayr has been given planning consent. The project has been conceived as an urban square next to the River Ayr that will be used for festivals and events.
The scheme, focuses around a new glazed structure, that will open up a number of views blocked by post-war development and includes commercial, cultural, leisure, community, hotel and residential buildings. South Ayrshire Council has already committed to building a new council office for 350 of its staff as part of the scheme.
Ayr Renaissance began purchasing the mainly 20th century buildings on the site almost four years ago with funding from the council and the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.
Demolition will begin immediately on the buildings within the plot, which falls inside the Ayr Central Conservation, following the approval for the masterplan by South Ayrshire Council last week.
Archaeologists will work alongside the demolition contractors in preparation for a six-month dig.
James Knox, chairman of Ayr Renaissance, said: ‘This decision marks a turning point in the fortunes of Ayr. Decades of blight will be swept away, opening up the river to the town’s people for the first time in generations. ‘Our masterplan offers a humane and beautiful solution to the transformation of this key site, which will act as a magnet for visitors, office workers and inhabitants alike. It marks a sea change in the economy of the town.’