On the 9 December 2024 the School of Architecture, Building and environment hosted the fifth iteration of the final review of the MArch Collaborative Design Studio. This end of term event is an opportunity for the student design teams to wrap up their semester exploring and interrogating the adaptive reuse of an existing building. After a challenging 12-week programme where they fulfil their task through 4 distinct phases, Spatial, Structural, Services and Durability (including Cost benefit Analysis) they are asked to pivot to a different scenario. Under the guidance of the studio leads, Noel Brady, Sarah O’Dwyer and Lenzie O’Sullivan the students receive additional critical feedback from the external professional design team, this year led by Peter Crowley Architect, consisted of Alan Garvey, Structural Eng., Edith Blennerhassett Environmental Eng., and Gordon Place, QS. Other guests included Emma Geoghegan, Head of Discipline, Richard Gallery, Project manager with Building Change and Orna Hanly, Former Head of the School of Architecture, who is undertaking PhD research into studio teaching. In addition, and more pertinent to Building Change were three participants in the Building Change CPD Module run by TU Dublin, Whole Life Design. John Bruen ATU – Sligo, Maroun Tabba CACE – UCC Cork and Tom O’ Brien SETU Waterford. As special guests they could see the other half of the Whole Life Design theory module. The MArch Students are required to show understanding, competence and intelligence in applying the theoretical principles explored in While Life Design in their Collaborative Design Studio. This event provided the team at TU Dublin the opportunity to showcase the proof of concept of Whole Life Design (theory) in action. Following the professional competent and confident presentations by each of the four student teams there was a question and answer session and then a roundtable discussion which was chaired by Noel Brady. This is an opportunity for students, staff visitors and professionals to discuss the implications of their experience and to outline future possibilities. This year the event provided the visiting CPD graduates the opportunity to learn from our experience at TU Dublin and bring forward their thinking about how they can enable change within their own curriculum.
Noel Brady Module Lead Collaborative Design Studio December 2024
