Culture | Books, Music, Theatre, Film & The Arts

Architecture steps onto Ireland's cultural mainstage

The Irish Architecture Foundation is marking its 20th year with Future Heritage, its most ambitious cultural programme to date...

Architecture • 09 Sep

100 Buildings: Dublin Airport's original terminal is a wonder

If flying from Dublin Airport's Terminal 1 this summer, see if you can find time to admire one of Ireland's most elegant modernist buildings.

100 Buildings • 17 Sep

The front facade of South Tipperary Arts Centre, formerly a regional CIÉ bus station

100 Buildings: The Tipperary bus station reborn as an arts centre

In 1948, while construction had halted on Busáras, a regional CIÉ bus station opened in Tipperary.

100 Buildings • 28 May

An installation view of Assembly, now showing in Venice (Pic: Samuele Cherubini)

Ireland assembles for the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale

Assembly is a multi-sensory installation curated by Cotter & Naessens Architects for the Irish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Architecture • 21 May

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure story set in megalopolis Night City (Pic: CD Projekt RED)

How architecture shapes video game play

When players enter the virtual worlds of video games, they are greeted by complex architectural environments, writes Gabriele Aroni.

Games • 22 Apr

View of the glass-fronted Bauhaus Building in Dessau, Germany, circa 1926 (Pic: Archive Photos/Getty)

Why Germany's far right hates the Bauhaus movement

At a time of political tension in Germany, the Bauhaus – arguably one of most influential architecture, art and design schools in the world – has become the target of far-right attacks, writes Katrin Schreiter.

Opinion and Analysis • 24 Feb

Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce in The Brutalist (Pics: A24)

The Brutalist, reviewed by an architect

For anyone involved in architecture, it's no surprise that a film focusing on a visionary architect and his profession demands the epic dimensions of cinematography, drama and 215-minute running time of Brady Corbet's The Brutalist.

Film • 27 Jan

The Galway City Telephone Exchange (Pics courtesy of Amelia Walker, Hardiman's Galway)

100 Buildings: the Galway City Telephone Exchange rings a bell

The New Year is a time we make more calls, emails and texts to friends and family. It can be easy nowadays to take this technology for granted.

100 Buildings • 21 Jan

St Conal's Church in Glenties, Co. Donegal

100 Buildings: Where two glens meet - the drama of St Conal's

Another Donegal church? Yes, but hear me out. This year marks fifty years since the completion of Liam McCormick's (1916 – 1996) fourth Donegal church, whose form departed radically from its predecessors.

Architecture • 06 Dec 24

100 Buildings: Tuite's of Oldcastle is a classic roadside garage

Tuite's garage in Oldcastle, County Meath reminds us of the influence automobiles exerted on twentieth-century Irish architecture.

Architecture • 24 Oct 24

Kilmainham Mill in Dublin's south city is one of the buildings opening its doors for the festival

Old Dublin buildings open doors to public for festival

A number of buildings which are normally not accessible to the public will open their doors in the coming days as part of the capital's architectural festival.

Regional • 14 Oct 24

Architects Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey feature in Making

Meeting the makers: Creating an architectural wonder in Cork

Making is a new documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Pat Collins which documents Making In, the annual gathering of makers that takes place each September at Joseph Walsh Studio in Fartha, Co. Cork.

Documentaries • 15 Aug 24

Blackrock tower in Salthill (Pic: Ciaran Ferrie)

100 Buildings: The Galway shelters and the Bishop's portholes

Known locally as 'The Prom', the Promenade in Salthill overlooking the Galway Bay is Ireland's longest promenade, at approximately 3km in length.

Architecture • 03 Aug 24

Sunday Miscellany: Architect John Tuomey's fairytale of New York

A young architect's impressions of New York, and decades later is a significant place of work and friendships

Sunday Miscellany • 12 Jul 24

The front view of St Loman's in Mullingar

100 Buildings: St Loman's in Mullingar - from hospital to homes

Deravarra House in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, is a fine mid twentieth-century Modern Movement building, which retains its early form and character.

Architecture • 16 Mar 24

Shopfront of B. Corcoran's Menswear, Wexford Town

100 Buildings: Making Wexford's Main Street modern

A Wexford favourite of Alfred Beit and the Duke of Wellington...

Architecture • 18 Jan 24

Celebrated architect John Tuomey (Pic: Al Higgins)

First Quarter - architect John Tuomey's autobiography extracted

In a reflective and enriching memoir, John Tuomey navigates the places and memories of his life over the scope of twenty-five years.

Books • 12 Nov 23

Shane de Blacam holding his RA Architecture Prize (Pic: Getty Images / John Phillips)

Honouring The Godfather of contemporary Irish architecture

On Tuesday 31 October, Irish architect Shane de Blacam received the 2023 Royal Academy of Arts Architecture Prize in London.

Architecture • 05 Nov 23

100 Buildings: Back to school with Limerick's MIC dormitory block

It is easy to forget that bespoke student housing has been around for decades.

Architecture • 07 Oct 23

Sunday Miscellany on the architect who transformed Dublin

On the "quiet, unassuming but determined" corporation architect who transformed Dublin

Sunday Miscellany • 02 Oct 23

Clerys elevated balcony (Pic courtesy of Visual Lab)

Life, in storeys - the Dublin festival of architecture returns

Emmett Scanlon, Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, gives some tips on this year's Open House Dublin festival programme, which presents stories of lives lived in the company of buildings.

Architecture • 01 Oct 23

100 Buildings: Guarding Sligo - the story of Look Out Post No. 67

Dotted around our shores are reminders of our defence architecture throughout the centuries; from Iron Age promontory forts and Martello towers, but also the period of time known as 'the Emergency'.

100 Buildings • 02 Aug 23

Laboratory of the Future: Venice Architecture Biennale reviewed

On 20th May, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, organised by La Biennale di Venezia, opened in Venice.

Architecture • 18 Jul 23

100 Buildings: Lahinch Church - how to be a bad client

A building is the product not just of the architect, builders, and craftspeople, but also of its client. And sometimes the relationship between architect and client can be a difficult one.

100 Buildings • 21 Jun 23

Interpreting ourselves - inside Ireland's Venice Biennale show

Biennales, as we know them, were born in Venice 130 years ago. The original intention was to celebrate national artistic talent, with the Architecture Biennale emerging in the 1970s.

visual arts • 18 Jun 23