New journal seeks architectural debate

The long-awaited annual journal of UCD's School of Architecture, Tracings, has just been published. With high aspirations that it may perform for architecture what The Crane Bag did for literature in the 1980s, it hopes to generate lively debate and discussion.

In his foreword, Prof Loughlin Kealy complains that there is still very little critical discussion of the ideas and purposes that animate architects; he says Tracings is intended to "explore the wider political, cultural and intellectual arena in which architecture is made."

What is contained within the first large-format volume of 140 pages is a series of often very lengthy learned essays on a very diverse range of subjects, some not dealing with architecture at all. The tone is almost uniformly reverential, with more than a hint of navel-gazing.

The three pieces most relevant to Ireland today - by Ruairi Quinn, one of the school's most prominent graduates; Maureen Gilbert, of the National Rehabilitation Board, and Jim Walsh, a research analyst with Combat Poverty - also happen to be among the shortest.

All three deal with the realities and potential futures of urban life. Mr Quinn writes of the awesome challenges we face over the next 10 years, while Ms Gilbert questions who the city is for and Mr Walsh highlights the urgent need to deal with "social apartheid".

There is also an elegant contribution from structural engineer Terry O'Neill suggesting that historic buildings should be treated like older family members, ("Keep them dry and whatever else goes wrong, fix it") and a provocative piece by Gary Boyd about video surveillance.

But the bulk of this volume is given over to more arcane musings and minitheses, including a copiously-annotated one by Ana Dolan and Prof Kealy himself on ruined medieval churches, and another by Raymund Ryan on the inside-out world of American artist James Turrell.

Hugh Campbell, UCD lecturer and editor of Tracings, contributes what he calls notes on the arrival in Dublin of Francis Bacon's "prodigious mess" of a studio, ruminating about whether it can conjure the spirit of the artist, like the studios of Mondrian or Pollock.

There is an interesting dialogue involving poet Theo Dorgan, architect Dominic Steevens and Richard and Tricia Hudson, whose surname identifies O'Donnell and Tuomey's much-lauded concrete house in Navan, about what it's like to live out a shared dream.

Art is covered expansively by Shane O'Toole's 1996 interview with James Scanlan, who confesses that he doesn't really like glass, and Justin Keating writes knowledgeably about the an Keating's heroic portrayal of Ardnacrusha power station by his father Sean.

Another legacy of that early period, the peat-fired power stations and how to represent them in their ruined state, is a pre-occupation for Kevin Donovan, while four recent graduates contribute their own tracings, some influenced by the graphic style of Zaha Haddad.

Prof Declan Kiberd, in his erudite introduction, tackles the thorny issue of the Irish attachment to a sense of place while simultaneously turning a blind eye to the built environment and he suggests the advent of Tracings is of "immense significance" in informing public debate.

Whether the public at which it is aimed finds this high-minded journal accessible is doubtful.

The next issue of Tracings, in 2001, will deal with urbanism in Ireland.

Further information from hugh.campbell@ucd.ie