Year 02

In semester 1, the primary focus in the Design Studio was ‘wide-span’ structures within an urban context. We partnered with Ailbhe Cunningham of TEST SITE who worked with Year 2 students to understand the history and development of Cornmarket Street. The major project brief was to design a building that would reactivate the former market space. 

Staying on the Cornmarket Street site, we worked with CCAE workshop tutor, Aoife Browne, to design and fabricate street furniture using recycled scaffold boards kindly reused from projects undertaken last year. Each piece of street furniture was ‘tailored’ for a specific part of the Cornmarket Street. 

In semester 2, Year 2 students were asked to consider the architecture of ‘Housing’ and ‘Home’, its issues and solutions. We studied our own living environments in minute detail and developed digital drawing skills in 2D draughting. Varying housing types were explored in precedent studies to provide an insight into housing design. 

Early in the semester we undertook a class field trip to Barcelona in late January. The trip involved sketching and recording the urban landscape, iconic buildings, and specifically Markets of Barcelona.

Thee semester culminated with a design project of a notional housing scheme based in Castletownbere. This project was supported by Cork County Council and provided the students with the experience of working for a ‘real’ client. The flexible housing scheme had to cater for varying age groups, abilities and lifestyles while protecting the context of the site. 

CCAE is very grateful for the input and efforts of Greg Collins and Shane Jones from the Cork County Council Architects Department.

Declan Fallon