Author: Colum O'Riordan

IAA Funding Appeal

For nearly 40 years the Irish Architectural Archive, Ireland’s buildings record, has been collecting and preserving material of every kind relating to the architecture of the entire island of Ireland, and making it available to the public. Now the Archive is facing a grave situation and we are seeking your support.

From a worsening but workable financial position up to mid- 2012, when grant support was cut again, we ended 2012 with a substantial cash deficit and now face a potential cumulative deficit in excess of €100,000 by the end of 2013. Quite simply, the Archive does not have the resources to operate normally for the whole of the year. The board of the Archive has had to act to protect this vital cultural resource and so we now find ourselves facing the prospect of having to close the Archive for July, August and September 2013. We recognise that this will be a significant disruption for Archive users, especially those working on long term research and publication projects. The closure will also harm our loyal and hard-working staff all of whom will be made temporarily redundant. We are therefore asking for support to sustain the organisation, not only for the balance of 2013 but into the future. You can donate by cheque (payable to the Irish Architectural Archive and sent to the Archive at 45 Merrion Square, Dublin 2), by standing order, or by credit card via PayPal.

The Archive is a charity (CHY 6240) and so donations above €250 are tax deductable by self-assessed tax payers. Donations from PAYE taxpayers are additionally beneficial to the Archive.

Michael Webb, Chairman.

Berlin Palace Exhibition and Panel Disucssion

The Irish Architectural Archive, with the support of the German Embassy in Dublin, is hosting an exhibition on the proposal by the Humboldt Forum Foundation Berlin to reinstate the demolished Berlin Palace in the heart of Berlin as a site for world culture.The proposal is regard as one of Germany’s most significant cultural projects, and the Germany Embassy views the presentation of the exhibition in Dublin as an important contribution to Ireland’s EU Presidency. The exhibition will open on Thursday 17 January 2013 and run for 4 weeks. It be accompanied by a lecture series and a panel discussion featuring Prof Franco Stella, the competition-winning architect for the project,  on Friday 18 Janu

ary 2013 at 6.30 pm in the Edmund Burke Theatre, TCD.

Noel Moffett and Berlin Palace Exhibitions

The Irish Architectural Archive reading room is open again after the Christmas break. Our Noel Moffett Centenary Exhibition continues in the Architecture Gallery (http://www.iarc.ie/exhibitions) and the accompanying lecture series starts on Tuesday 22 Jan (http://www.iarc.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Moffett_Lecture_Series.pdf). Later this month we will be presenting an exhibition on the proposed reinstatement of the Berlin Palace by the Humboldt Forum Berlin; this will also be accompanied by a lecture series and a panel discussion on Friday 18 January in the Edmund Burke Theatre, TCD, on the topic ‘Reconstructing lost buildings: the Berlin Palace as a model for Ireland?’ (see http://www.iarc.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Berlin-Palace-Panel-Discussion.pdf). Admission is free.