Meet the Cork man putting Dublin architecture on the map

Cities are 'intense crucibles of people's stories', according to Emmett Scanlon, director of the Irish Architecture Foundation

Sat, 07 Oct, 2023 - 18:01

Eve Kelliher, Home Editor

Childhood evenings devoted to creating new worlds and a curiosity about people and their stories inspired Cork man Emmett Scanlon to become an architect.

Now, as the newly appointed director of the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF), Emmett is drawing up plans to give Dublin an opportunity to reimagine itself and plot its next chapters.

“I was born in Damascus, Syria, and we moved to Cork — my dad was in the army. I lived in Carrigaline until I was 18 when I came to Dublin to study architecture. I have been in Dublin for over 30 years now,” says Emmett.

Interior of Apple Tree House, part of Open House Dublin.

“As a child, I had a neighbour who always gave me markers or pens or paints for presents, so I spent my days imagining new worlds, drawing houses and making maze drawings in copy books, and building cities in Lego — I had a little table given to me by my mother to draw each day after school — I think this ignited my interest in design and architecture and I have never lost it.”

Interior of Glentora, by Brennan Furlong Architects, part of Open House Dublin.

As for his lifelong passion for discovering what makes others tick? “I am endlessly interested in people’s stories,” says Emmett.

“With creative work, I am always the one who is in the process room looking at the notebooks and preparatory work an artist might have made to get to the finished article — I want to know who the person is and how their story has been formed by their individual situations.”

Now he’s at the helm at the IAF, Emmett is steering the Open House Dublin festival and has expanded it into a nine-day programme this year, starting this weekend and running from October 7-15.

Open House is a network organisation, and the Dublin festival will open up more than 150 buildings and spaces to the public.

Cities are the most intense crucibles of people’s stories, all gathered together, each influencing the other

"I am fascinated by cities and very dynamic things, that are really complex to construct and manage, yet on a simple level as this invention allows people to connect, gather, commune, make culture, play sport, protest, govern, live, and die," says Emmett.

“And, I also love how easily you can get lost there, you can become invisible for a bit, imagine new identities, possibilities — this for me is essential to being an architect — cities enable me to imagine again, and I walk in them a lot, getting lost, to find new ways forward.”

It was observing how children took ownership of designing their own recreation zone in Dublin that inspired a key aspect of this year’s festival. “In Ballyfermot, a number of years ago, the IAF managed the making of a new play park there,” Emmett says.

“We recently went back and did our own survey work to see how the children — who had been involved in the design of this play park — were doing now.

“We learned that by being included in decisions about the design and being supported locally each day to take care of their park themselves, they have developed immense civic pride — now some children have grown up and are passing their knowledge and experience down to younger children.

“For me, all of this shows that play is a lot of fun and must be allowed in the city, but it might also change the way our entire nation thinks about acts in the built environment in the future — if they learn the value of care, community and cooperating when young.”

GKMP Architects-designed Bloomwood. Picture: Aisling McCoy

Play and the City is one of five open-table discussions at the event. “These are new to Open House Dublin this year,” adds Emmett.

“It is part of my role, I think, to try to create situations where audiences feel comfortable listening to people’s stories about the city and how many people do not have access to all a city has to offer.

“Each of the five conversations comes at this question of inclusion in a way which considers inclusion an active thing, something that relates to an activity — not abstract terms or words.

“Play and the City is a clear example of this — children have a right to the city not only in their future but when they are children too. This right, in part, is granted or denied, when children are able to play safely in parks, gardens, streets and other areas.

"This is a political question — it has to do with the laws we make, and it is a societal question, about how children are or are not safe — but it is also a design question. Play for children is a well-established means through which children connect with others but also with place — they learn how to use, occupy, take control and negotiate the city and other citizens.”

Open House Dublin will also include younger citizens via Open House Junior — “a whole weekend dedicated to enabling children to bring their imagination into the real conversation on the world around them”.

Emmett has just completed his stint as the editorial and artistic organiser of the Venice Biennale with its curator Lesley Lokko. “During this time, I met a man named Rhael ‘LionHeart’ Cape, architecture’s first poet laureate,” he says. “Rhael made an extraordinary film for the Biennale, entitled ‘Those With Walls For Windows’ — a film which will be exclusively shown in Dublin on the big screen in the Lighthouse Cinema, on October 14.

“When I first watched this film, I sat in the dark, looking at this massive screen, and started to cry, it was so clear and poetic about the power of our built world to either build us and support us and take of us, or to exclude and isolate and control us.

"The feeling was immense and I used this to frame a conversation between LionHeart and the also very brilliant city architect of Malmö, Finn Williams, called ‘Cities Have Feelings’, part of the Open House talks series on October 14.”

Hallway in Glentora, by Brennan Furlong Architects, part of Open House Dublin.

Would he agree that the concept of home is more paradoxically important than ever considering the housing crisis?

“For sure, we need more housing for more people and we need it now. But not at any cost — the IAF has a role to play in the housing conversation because we can continue to advocate for the best-designed housing — housing that meets people’s real needs today, not their historic needs,” says Emmett.

“While I accept the need for speed, we also need to ensure we design the best places to live — it is a huge investment and we need to build now for now, but for the next 100 years.”

Laura Carroll and Ciarán Molumby, Islander Architects, and front, Emmett Scanlon, IAF. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan

Open House Dublin will launch a book in partnership with The Housing Agency, Housing Unlocked, in which teams of architects and others reimagine housing in Ireland.

The festival programme will also feature an open table on housing with David Madden. “Dublin needs more people living in it and those already living it not to be marginalised or pushed to the edges,” adds Emmett.