Dermot Bannon: 'You'd be a fool not to listen to what people think'
Architect Dermot Bannon. Picture: Ruth Maria Murphy
A practical, solutions-driven design approach to our homes, towns and cities is what Dermot Bannon wants to see.
Ireland’s most famous architect has started filming series for RTÉ One this week and it’s due to air in September. “We’ve done ‘Incredible Homes’ and they’ve always got to be really big, and we had ‘Super Small Spaces’ during the pandemic,” says Dermot.
“For this, we’ve lost our shackles completely, and gone for really cool designs — and the spaces don’t just have to be a house, they can be really cool urban spaces or really cool homes, it’s a real magazine approach to design, and I’m very excited about it, it will be different.
“There’s so much on television and in the media giving out about what’s wrong. I’d love to make this a little bit solutions-driven.
"It’s very easy to say we have a housing crisis and say what’s wrong. I feel my role instead is to ask what we can do.
“That’s what I’m hoping — that this will be solutions-driven positive, uplifting and exciting — but ‘real’ and tackling some of the issues of Ireland today in our homes and outdoor spaces, in our cities and towns.”
Flming for the equivalent series, , last year took the architect and TV crew to Spain, as they explored Catalonia and Barcelona (a city that has it “nailed” in terms of urban design, according to Dermot).
“You go to Barcelona and we’re all familiar with the Gaudi stuff — but it was also lovely to get out into the countryside and to meet people and to get to do things like stopping off at a roadside café,” he says.
“One of the things I love about doing that show you really get an insight into the country when you go into people’s homes and chat about life — you can chat about the building only so much, and it’s that smalltalk, on life, that fills in the gap. It’s with that you learn, so it’s a lovely process.”
Those little interactions are also what make so popular — we all tune in to see the relationships develop between Dermot and the homeowners.
Dermot agrees. “Yes, it really is the human interest factor that appeals,” he says. “I’m not just popping into their lives for six weeks — I could be there, for a year, in their ear!”
Born in Malahide, Dermot studied architecture in Hull in the UK before moving back to Dublin.
In 2006, he answered an advertisement seeking a presenter for a new series, to be called , and in 2008, he began to present .
“It really is watching people going through a journey when you’re seeing the project onscreen,” says Dermot, who is based in Drumcondra, Dublin, with his wife Louise and their three children.
But discovering what people think and what makes them tick also works in the reverse.
Dermot courted his barber, Justin, for his opinion on a previous series of when planning ahead for 2023.
Justin told the architect and presenter while he had enjoyed the episodes, he wanted to see a space on the programme that was “more relatable”.
“I always ask people for feedback and I’m always interested in what people think,” adds the architect.
“I do this [the television series] for the audience, and If you’re going to do it for people, well, you need to know what they think of it. I always listen, I always take it on board, and I always have.
"You’d be a fool not to listen and you’d be a fool not to adapt and change. I do this for the audience; I don’t do this for myself for my ego.”
What about anonymous online commentary?
“Even with the anonymous comments — if it hurts a little bit there’s a truth in it,” he says. “If you think, ‘How dare they?’ Then there’s something in that [comment].
"There’s no harm in a little bit of self-reflection. I’m in a position where I’ve been very lucky. I’m given airtime and I’m given slots on television — these are slots that people would love, I don’t take that for granted. I do feel lucky that I get a voice.”
That voice has to be the most listened-to in Irish architecture and Dermot is using it to good effect this week to raise awareness of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and the Simon Communities’ 19th annual RIAI Simon Open Door collaboration, for which he is an ambassador.
Dermot has taken part in the campaign since the beginning and this year’s event runs from May 8-14 (www.riaisimonopendoor.ie).
“I just love it,” he says. “It’s as close as architects will get to a festival,” he says.
In return for a €98 donation, homeowners that sign up Receive an hour-long consultation with an RIAI-registered architect to discuss building, renovating, or retrofitting their home.
The funds raised support the Simon services, helping those who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or experiencing food poverty.
At the moment, grants, particularly Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) funding, are of huge interest, says Dermot.
“For anyone buying an older property now you get huge amounts of supports,” he adds. “You can claim up to €70k.”
Questions run the gamut of design.
“I’ve had people come into me to talk about absolutely everything — from understairs storage to designing a whole house,” says Dermot.
But whatever the scope of your project or renovation, arrive with your homework done. “You’ll get more out of this session the more prepared you are,” says Dermot.
That means arming yourself with photographs and plans. “There will be a set of plans in the brochure, that’s plenty,” he says.
As for pictures? “We all have smartphones. I was involved from day one 20 years ago and people had to go out and print them out. Now people swipe through phones.”
- The RIAI’s new Working with an Architect guide is free to download from riai.ie
- RIAI Simon Open Door runs from May 8-14 2023; check out riaisimonopendoor.ie
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