This article is part of a series about Irish people who are working in creative fields and living abroad.
Jennifer O’Donnell
Architect, Berlin
Emigrating allowed Berlin-based Jennifer O’Donnell to become a different type of architect. She now gets some of her most interesting work back in Ireland.
“I needed to get out to see different ways of thinking and of being as an architect before I could imagine different things for myself,” she says.
O’Donnell’s practice operates “on the fringes of architecture”; many of her projects are about research and drawing rather than building.
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“Being in Berlin and seeing the freedom people have to be themselves, to try out new things, gave me the courage to try it myself,” she says.
O’Donnell set up Berlin-based Plattenbaustudio, an architecture and drawing firm, with her Irish husband Jonathan Janssens in 2018.
The Tipperary native met Janssens on their first day studying architecture at UCD. Despite “amazing years” at the university, the surrounding south Dublin suburbs did not exactly provide an inspirational built environment.
“My thesis site was in Berlin ... just seeing the vibrancy of a big, proper cosmopolitan city felt really exciting,” she says.
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She vowed to return. After graduating and working for a small Dublin firm, O’Donnell moved to Berlin 11 years ago. “We dropped everything and went for it. We had no jobs. It was scary and exciting.”
The city felt so different to O’Donnell. For example, she could go out at night and find herself “partying to techno in the basement of an old swimming pool”. (The arrival of the couple’s daughter in recent years has put such late night adventures on hold.)
Being so disconnected after the second World War and with the Berlin Wall meant people in the city “had to band together” and do things for themselves, she says. As a result, “now it’s cool and interesting”, and she loves how citizens value their parks and spaces they want to hold on to.
When she first arrived, O’Donnell began working at an international firm on high-level projects with big budgets. But after three “tough and exhausting” years, she felt she was missing something in her work. She and Jannsen quit their jobs and started their own firm from their kitchen table.
Plattenbaustudio focuses on research and drawing, and they work on projects both in Germany and Ireland. They also take part in exhibitions (including the RHA annual exhibition in Dublin), installations and lectures (including at the Irish Museum of Modern Art).
“The most interesting work we have gotten is from clients in Ireland,” she says. Such projects include Urban Mirror, a sculpture designed for Coal Quay in Cork. The large, free-standing table with a coloured globe on a pin is part of Cork City Council’s Island City sculpture trail, and was later replicated as a “twin” table in Cork’s twin city, Köln (Cologne).
They also contributed to a project about the former Magdalene laundry site at Sean McDermott Street in Dublin, working with other architects (as CoLab) as part of the Open Heart City Collective. O’Donnell emphasises that their part was “small” but she learned a lot. “Reports have laid down in paper what happened [in the Magdalene laundries],” but drawing the reality of such a place is “powerful”, she says. It was about more than showing the buildings, but also including everyday things such as wallpaper and signage, to recall the “collective memory”.
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O’Donnell says her own roots have helped her in her work. “Being an emigrant and being Irish, we approach the world with openness, curiosity and a willingness to listen and be kind.” She has adapted to German ways too, learning to be very clear and honest, even though confrontation is something Irish people fear, she says.
Despite 20,000 Irish people living in Germany, O’Donnell still hears many stereotypes, including the “frustrating” one of the Irish being big drinkers. She does her part to “represent modern Irish creativity” in Germany.
“Young Irish people have a lot to show and give,” she says.
Irish creatives abroad
- An Irishwoman in New York: ‘You can be who you want here if you learn to climb the ladder’
- Irish director in London: ‘You find yourself connected to Irish people, there’s a familiarity’
- An Irish architect in Berlin: ‘Freedom people here have to be themselves gave me courage’
- ‘For many, growing up queer in Ireland was a trauma almost – they ran away
- ‘In Dublin people say they’re exhausted. Danes look down on idea of always being busy’
- Seán Burke, Irish comedian in London: ‘My accent goes a long way when I’m on stage’
- Irish director in London: ‘You find yourself connected to Irish people, there’s a familiarity’
- ‘For many, growing up queer in Ireland was a trauma almost – they ran away
- Are you Irish and living in another country? Would you like to share your experience in writing or by interview? You can use the form below, or email abroad@irishtimes.com. Irish Times Abroad submission guidelines here.
