Hi again! I touched down in Dublin a few days ago and have been settling into my new life here. I get to stay in a great accommodation only 20-30 minutes from downtown Dublin which is awesome! EUSA set up a day where I got to learn and try out Gaelic sports like hurling, Gaelic football, and wall ball. While I can’t say I caught on naturally I had a lot of fun learning about these games that are unique to Ireland and so important to its culture! Instead of being drafted onto teams, Gaelic players always represent the club near where they were born which gives the sport a uniquely tribal and community-based character.I also got to travel to Kilkenny and Glendalough. I particularly loved hiking the lake trail in Glendalough and checking out the ancient monastery there! Here are some cool flics I took:

Plus I’ve met some sweet gals in my program! I’m looking forward to getting closer and hopefully traveling with them. Here’s another cute picture I took of some of them:

I’m excited to share that I was just placed at Reddy A+U Architecture Firm! The placement was a pleasant surprise to me because It appears to be an accomplished larger Firm with lots of exciting projects. This Firm is in the architecture industry in Ireland, which involves the planning, design, and oversight of building construction and urban development. They have over 200 employees across five offices in Ireland, as well as locations in Belfast and Lisbon. The Dublin office appears to be their largest and are involved in many projects at any given time. They designed the two buildings I live next to in UCD, one of which hosts the beloved Centra! One project that stood out to me in particular is a Nursing home and mental health facility in the country that is taking a new approach to tackling health struggles through access to the natural environment.

Architects have to have a lot of technical expertise. This includes BIM softwares like Revit and Rhino and other 3D modeling softwares. Within just understanding how to use these, architects need to understand how to articulate buildings from scratch. You have to take into account creativity, the practical needs of a building, and the constraints of the project. There are many little things to remember like the typical dimensions for things like the rise and run of stairs. Developing a deep understanding of construction and an intuitive sense for designing spaces takes time, especially when balancing a building’s constraints and functional needs. Architects also need to be good communicators, especially at the higher up levels of the career. You are working with many parties including contractors, developers, the government and other architects. There are many stages of planning and meetings with all of these parties in an architecture project.

Architects also have to be good at problem solving. Managing the needs of all the parties involved as well as working around the constraints of a project can be difficult. Revit is a super smart program but always is breaking or not working the way you want it to. So, you need to be able to solve problems both between people, design, and software. Architects also need to be project managers. There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle when designing a project. Architectural projects involve multiple phases of design planning, followed by several stages of overseeing construction to ensure everything is executed properly. Plus, each project has many deadlines that need to be met in order for firms to work through more projects and thus make more money.

One competency in architecture that is unique to Ireland are the government planning laws and building permission rules. In Ireland, there are stronger protections in place for historic buildings. The government also places more emphasis on sustainability in Ireland. Additionally, they have access to different materials and have different building standards in comparison to America. Some of this is likely due to what materials are simply more popular and accessible here. The Harsh weather in Ireland also impacts the quality and quantity of materials needed to properly protect a building from the elements. Additionally, the types of buildings that may be renovated are also likely to be much older than those in the states. In these projects there is a larger focus on heritage and conservation. I am very interested in historical preservation so I hope to work on a project involving renovating an older building. I look forward to starting my internship and gaining more experience and knowledge in these areas!