This year the Conference, 'The Architecture of Recovery – A 2020 Vision for Ireland' will be held in Westport, from 3 - 5 October.
In the past, it had been held outside of Ireland visiting cities that had a resonance with some aspect of Irish development while in 2009 the RIAI Conference was brought back to Ireland and held in Limerick.
This year's focus is on the end of the largest building boom in Ireland's history that has left the nation with the challenge of how to deal with developments of "the wrong type, in the wrong locations and, in the most extreme cases, with little future but demolition".
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Architects are to be challenged on the importance of quality and design in architecture and urbanism and to deliver attractive and sustainable built environments that enrich Ireland's distinctive culture and heritage and contribute to the competiveness of the economy and improve quality of life for the people of Ireland.
This year's conference explores these themes with a range of leading keynote speakers who will address the cultural, economic, social and environmental dimension to today's challenges, and thought provoking panel discussions will examine how architects and architecture can contribute to a vision for the future.
The conference will also showcase the ideas and problem-solving abilities of architects through the RIAI promoted 3 Twenty 10 research competition, which has invited architects to put forward solutions to the many problems facing us in the built environment; the 20 short listed projects will be presented in 'pecha kucha' format, and the conference will also include a session on the Schools of Architecture workshops exploring similar issues.
"We cannot afford not to plan for the future. The conference, and the 3 Twenty 10 research competition, is a call to architects to use the time now available to consider what kind of Ireland do we want for our children and our children's children.
"The crisis doesn’t only make us free to imagine new models, another future, another world; it obliges us to do so," said Paul Keogh, RIAI President.
See: www.riai.ie
(BMcC/GK)
