Architects are setting out to make the public love architecture with a festival of more than 50 free events over the next six weeks, including walking tours, building visits, exhibitions, conferences, talks, musical performances and television programmes.
The Loving Architecture Festival, launched by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche, has been organised by the newly-established Irish Architecture Foundation, which aims to wake up a wider public to contemporary architecture in Ireland.
Timed to coincide with World Architecture Day, which is being marked today, the festival is "a celebration of all aspects of the built environment and the people who shape it", Mr Roche said. "There's something for everyone who loves architecture, design and the world built around them."
Festival highlights include an exhibition of 10 buildings shortlisted for the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Gold Medal, which is to be presented on November 10th by President Mary McAleese.
This is the first time that a shortlist has been publicised in advance. Eight of the projects in the running are in Dublin - Fingal County Hall, the Liffey Boardwalk, No 1 Castle Street, the Wooden Building in Temple Bar, Ranelagh Multi-
denominational School, the Millennium Tower and Esat Building in the Grand Canal Docks and Smithfield.
Other events include Master of All the Muses, an exhibition marking the centenary of the birth of Michael Scott (1905-1989), the symbolic "father of modern architecture in Ireland", designer of Busáras in Dublin and one of the major figures in 20th-century Irish culture.
As part of the festival, the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI) will present Sound and Space, a series of musical performances exploring the relationship between architecture and music at four different venues in Dublin, including Busáras and City Hall.
The AAI has also developed an introductory course of lectures on contemporary architecture in Trinity College on Saturday mornings throughout the festival, while Galway and Roscommon county councils will show the results of their architects-in-residence programmes.
The National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks will host an international conference on October 21st celebrating Enniscorthy-born architect and designer Eileen Gray (1878-1976), who has been hailed as one of the pioneering spirits of the modern movement.
Another key moment in the festival will take place on Wednesday when RTÉ broadcasts Saving Letterfrack, a television documentary of Ireland's award-winning entry by O'Donnell and Tuomey Architects at last year's Venice Biennale. The Irish Georgian Society will be exploring The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on a walking tour of Temple Bar next Monday led by Shane O'Toole, curator of the Irish Architecture Foundation.
Full details of the Loving Architecture Festival are available at: www.lovingarchitecture.com