Bayanihan returns to Architecture at the Edge with an evening centred on the idea of the wall, not simply as a boundary, but as one of architecture’s most fundamental social elements.
Over two weeks at the European Architecture Students Assembly (EASA), twenty participants came together to construct a rammed earth wall while exploring contemporary ways of making, sharing skills, stories and experiences along the way. The project began with an interest in the role of the wall within the Irish landscape. Across Ireland, walls divide fields, measure land and mark ownership, but they can also become places of encounter: somewhere to shelter, rest, meet a neighbour, tell stories or gather. As the wall grew, it was continually inhabited. At different heights it became a bench, a table, a screen and, ultimately, an outdoor classroom.
The construction was accompanied by a series of collective activities, including a communal meal, storytelling, performances and a film screening. In this way, the wall became more than a structure; it became a piece of civic infrastructure shaped by the people who used it.
The permanent wall remains in Waterford. At Architecture at the Edge, its temporary timber formwork and supporting structures will be reassembled at Printworks Gallery, creating a new architectural stage and an echo of the original project. Rather than simply exhibiting documentation, the installation will be activated throughout the evening through shared food, film, music and conversation, compressing two weeks of collective occupation into a single night.
Alongside the installation, a public discussion will explore the cultural, political and spatial role of walls today- from the Irish field boundary to contested borders, and from shared civic infrastructure to architectures of exclusion. The evening asks how architecture might move beyond the production of objects to create the conditions for collective life, gathering and exchange.
Panellists Include:
Architect Mary Laheen one of the five creative directors of the Ireland pavilion exhibition, at the 18th Venice Architettura Biennale 2023, titled In Search of Hy-Brasil.
Celine Topsakal- Designer, Resolve Collective
Cathedral - the experimental electronic music alias of Galway-born DJ and producer Cóilí Collins, better known as Shampain
FREE entry - All are welcome, but pre- booking is advised.
