TU Dublin Architecture graduates exhibit at the 18th Biennale Architettura 2023
TU Dublin is proud to support four architecture graduates to exhibit at the 18th International Biennale Architettura 2023 exhibition in Venice, Italy. BothAnd Group is an architectural collective comprised of graduates of TU Dublin’s Bachelor of Architecture programme: Jarek Adamczuk, Alice Clarke, Andrew Ó Murchú, and Kate Rushe.
The collective was the sole Irish exhibit invited by La Biennale Architettura Curator, Lesley Lokko, to respond to the Curator’s Special Project: ‘Laboratory of the Future.’ The exhibition invites practitioners to experiment with bold ideas and solutions to global challenges under the twin themes of decolonisation and decarbonisation. As leaders in sustainability and climate action, TU Dublin is delighted to support the Alumni collective, recognising BothAnd Group’s ecologically sensitive and climate-resilient approach to architecture as a discipline.
BothAnd Group describes their project, The Landscape Rehearsals, as exploring indigenous ways of knowing and managing the land – opening the debate on place-based food production systems for a changing climate. On arriving at the installation, viewers are led towards a large drawing depicting clachán settlements and Roinn dáil – an indigenous landscape management practice found in the Pre-Famine landscapes of the west of Ireland.
TU Dublin’s Vice President for Sustainability, Jennifer Boyer, speaks of the value of embedding sustainability education into the curriculum across disciplines at TU Dublin:
At TU Dublin, we understand that architecture plays an important role in society. Its scope intersects decarbonisation, climate mitigation, social equity, and economy, providing solutions that are creative, often inspiring, and always future-focused. This design approach is at the heart of The Landscape Rehearsals showcased by BothAnd Group at La Biennale, and we are immensely proud to see TU Dublin Architecture graduates leading a dialogue and acting as agents of change on this global stage.
In a time of climate emergency and ecological crisis, architecture schools across Ireland, including TU Dublin’s School of Architecture, Building, and Environment, are revising the curricula and adopting a new approach to design that is responsive to the current real-world challenges. These efforts have recently been further supported through grant funding from the Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA), enabling the schools to work together on these challenges in the curriculum change and up-skilling project Resilient Design Curricula, led by TU Dublin.
Head of Architecture at TU Dublin’s School of Architecture, Building and Environment, Emma Geoghegan, describes the value of supporting the architecture graduates from BothAnd Group:
The members of BothAnd Group – Alice, Jarek, Kate, and Andrew – have, since graduating from our school, continuously demonstrated excellence in practice and research. The careful, rigorous, and creative criticality they bring to their current practice, as shown in The Landscape Rehearsals at La Biennale, is exemplary, and we look forward to welcoming them back to the school as Architects-In-Residence in the coming academic year.
Looking back at their time studying Architecture at TU Dublin, BothAnd Group collectively described their experience:
While studying at TU Dublin, a tight-knit group of lecturers offered an intense environment of critical reflection to explore the expanded discipline of architecture. We met as four friends within this context – within a community that demanded as much from the profession of architecture as a socially responsible art, as well as a commitment to its craft. This intense engagement of what it means to practice architecture allowed us to reflect upon our own roles in the built environment after graduation – to found BothAnd Group as a platform for us to shape our practice.
Speaking of celebrating TU Dublin Alumni’s success on the global stage, TU Dublin’s Foundation Executive Director, Anne Marie Corry, said:
TU Dublin is delighted to celebrate the successes of our Alumni and support BothAnd Group to debut their project at the International Biennale exhibition. We look forward to future collaborations with these graduates, and, in particular, how they can influence current and prospective students to explore innovative approaches within the Architecture discipline.
La Biennale is one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. The six-part exhibition includes 89 independent exhibitors from 64 nations, over half of whom are from Africa or the African Diaspora.
The ‘Laboratory of the Future’ exhibition is located in the Arsenale section of the Biennale Architettura and open to the public for the duration of the Biennale, taking place Saturday 20 May to Sunday 26 November 2023.