A new Irish film titled Places for People airs the vision of Ireland’s new National Policy on Architecture. The production featured at the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Festival this past week, 9 -12 June, 2022.
At the centre of the film are extensive interviews with Ireland’s Cultural Ambassadors for Architecture, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, who won the most prestigious prize for architecture in Europe – the EU Mies Award 2022. The production uses stunning footage of new Grafton Architects’ projects set in three different contexts – the historic Georgian city, former institutional lands to the edge of the city, and the industrial port of Dublin.
Places for People explores how we can transform our cities into places for people, through high-quality architecture and thoughtful ‘urban acupuncture’ through the inspirational work of Grafton Architects – the ESB Building, the Educate Together School within the Grangegorman campus, and their transformative plans for reconnecting Dublin Port to the historic core of the city.
The film resonates with the values of the NEB, featuring architecture that is ‘beautiful’, ‘sustainable’, and brings people ‘together’. The film narrates the vision of the national policy on architecture and speaks to the values of the NEB – the importance of a culture of architecture and how a high quality built environment can benefit people, nature and planet.
The film was commissioned by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and made by architectural filmmaker Ros Kavanagh.
Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, TD comments: “I think it is crucially important how we design the places we live in. Our expertise in architecture is a really vital resource for us to draw on. While addressing many of the challenges we are facing, I firmly believe that our new policy, Places for People, and its actions will enhance this work helping to deliver high quality homes and work places as well as public amenities in which our communities can flourish.
Places for People, The National Policy on Architecture is available here.