Exciting Fingal events unveiled for expanded Open House Dublin festival 

Guided tours highlighting the conservation and development of Swords Cultural Quarter, including Swords Castle and Carnegie Library, which is under refurbishment for use as a new arts space; tours of conservation works at Malahide Castle and the restored Glasshouses at Ardgillan Castle, as well as tours of public housing projects in Rolestown and Mulhuddart. These are just some highlights of the events taking place with the support of Fingal County Council as part of this year’s Open House Dublin, the free festival of architecture from the Irish Architecture Foundation.

Open House Dublin is taking place across Dublin city and county for an expanded nine days this year, from October 7 to 15.

Overall, the programme for 2023 features 150+ buildings and spaces for everyone to visit and experience free of charge this October, with walking tours, boat tours, exhibitions, films, podcasts, lectures, workshops and more events, including several in Fingal.

Tours of Swords Castle and Carnegie Library will highlight the conservation works designed by the Architects Department in Fingal County Council. Undertaken over the past six years, they have been related to consolidation works on the masonry, improved public access and landscape improvements to enhance the setting and provide interpretation of the site. Swords Carnegie Library is currently undergoing conservation and refurbishment for use as an arts space within the new Swords Cultural Quarter.

Tours of New Public Housing at Church Fields, Mulhuddart will present the completed phase 2A of the wider housing Land Management Plan for the Church Fields development. Phase 2A includes 67 dwellings in a mix of one-, two-, three, and four-bed dwellings in three urban blocks. The proposal includes two- and three-storey units integrating with the existing Avondale Park, to include single storey houses to the west of the site, overlooking the Pinkeen River.

Tours of New Public Housing at Rolestown will highlight the special age-friendly features of this initiative. Completed by Fingal County Council Architects Department in 2020, the Rolestown project includes 26 new social houses, 16 of which are adaptable for universal and age-friendly design, with ground-floor bedrooms and accessible showers. Many of these homes have been allocated to older or downsizing tenants, or have been specifically adapted for tenants with special needs on the social housing waiting list.

Tours of Malahide Castle will focus on recent conservation works to the Great Hall — the finest state room in the historic castle building — undertaken last year. This work involved complex conservation works including reroofing, stone and joinery repair, interior redecoration, and improved internal environmental systems to facilitate improved conditions and the display of the important collection of artworks on loan from the National Gallery of Ireland.

Tours at Newbridge House, Donabate will highlight the current conservation works showcasing façade repair works nearing completion, along with completed reroofing of the house and the joinery conservation. The tour will also take in the house’s interior, visiting some of the principal rooms.

Elsewhere on the Open House Dublin programme, new highlights for this year include:

• A new series of lunchtime conversations titled ‘Open Table’ is encouraging the sharing of stories and ideas on Dublin as an inclusive ‘open city’. Taking place at 2 Curved Street, Temple Bar from 9th to 13th October, join expert-led discussions over food on the themes of ageing, housing, climate action, creativity and justice, and play. The conversations will be hosted by Rose Anne Kenny, geriatrician and founding Principal Director of Ireland’s largest adult population study on the experience of aging in Ireland; Katherine O’Donnell, academic, writer and justice activist; Seán McCabe, Head of Climate Justice and Sustainability with the Bohemian Football Club; and David Madden, co-author of In Defense of Housing; and Aaron Copeland, Creative Director of non-profit A Playful City.
• Open House Dublin is hosting a special IAF New Now Next evening entitled ‘Cities Have Feelings’ on 14th October at Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield. Participants include Finn Williams, City Architect of Malmö and a co-founder of Public Practice, which is a UK-based social enterprise that recruits placemaking professionals to join forward-thinking local authorities. Williams will be joined by London visionary artist, poet and broadcaster Rhael ‘LionHeart’ Cape, whose work has focused on the impact of the built environment on mental health and wellbeing.   Through conversation and film, the evening will unearth how emotional, physical and social connections between people and their cities are formed and sustained.

Emmett Scanlon, Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, said: “Architecture festivals are extraordinary moments of focus and delight, where shared live experiences told through stories bind people and place. The flagship festival of the Irish Architecture Foundation, Open House Dublin is dedicated to telling the stories of over 1.5 million lives lived in the company of buildings and the built environment.  This festival is a way to get to the heart of Dublin, the heart of what matters. We have much architecture to celebrate and many people to champion across Dublin, but the very words ‘open’ and ‘house’, generous and fundamental, are, this year, a call to confront and admit the Dublin we have and to imagine and describe the Dublin we need. I hope more people than ever participate in Open House Dublin because a beautiful, sustainable and inclusive city and county invites us all to be in it together.”

Fionnuala May, County Architect, Fingal County Council, said: “Fingal County Council is pleased to be taking part in the Open House Dublin programme again this year and we are looking forward to introducing  the public to some of the area’s varied architecture.”

All Open House Dublin events are free, but pre-booking is required for some. Full details of the programme, including drop-in tours and events, can be found on the website OpenHouseDublin.com.