Jessica Reynolds Director vPPR Architects
In conversation with Rosie Webb

Tickets: FREE

Jessica co-founded vPPR in 2009. She is particularly interested in the relationship between art and architecture. She focuses on cultural projects and artist collaborations to rethink the everyday, greatly enjoying working across all scales and project types, from installations to historic refurbishments to mixed-use new developments. She is unit master at The Architectural Association, studying the role of museums in the environmental emergency. She has organised debates on this topic with the V&A, the Natural History Museum, the Horniman Museum and others. She is co-founder of the Architecture Exchange, a platform to foster debate between architecture and philosophy, investigating the work of Graham Harman and Chantal Mouffe. Jessica studied architecture at Cambridge University and Princeton University, including an M.Phil in History and Philosophy of Architecture at Cambridge. 

vPPR Architects, believe access to culture is fundamental for communities to thrive. We design spaces that inspire creativity by prioritising shared space, flexibility of use and artist collaborations. Our projects are designed to be robust and long lasting, seeking to retrofit wherever possible and embracing circular economy principles in our designs.  From our studios in London, Liverpool and Hamburg, we design for a diverse range of cultural, residential, commercial, education and public realm clients. vPPR is a women-led architecture practice, set up by Tatiana von Preussen, Catherine Pease and Jessica Reynolds in 2009.

Event supported by Patrick McCabe Architects. 

vPPR Projects include;

Idelwild Mews- The unused backland in South London was transformed into eight affordable rent homes for Croydon Council. 2025 RIBA London Awards, Winner

vPPR created the exhibition design for Marina Abramović’s major exhibition at the RA – the first solo woman exhibition in its 250 year history.

vPPR Architects is working together with leading NYC-based landscape firm James Corner Field Operations to transform a disused railway viaduct between Camden Town and King’s Cross into the Camden Highline, a new garden walk for London.

Architect Part 1 & Glass House 
Two Short Films by Laura Gannon

Tickets: Free admission, no registration required.

A screening of two short films shot in the west of Ireland, by artist Laura Gannon. Each film is set in a specific architectural location, responding to female creativity, rural architecture, and migration. Architect Part 1 will be screened alongside an earlier film Glass House. 

In Architect Part 1, a farmhouse sits on a mountainside, uninhabited for decades, its interior and exterior eroded by the elements. This is a result of its owner emigrating to England and the house was sold along with the farm. A reveal of architecture and the body, rural landscapes and migration. In Glass House, the film examines a modernist church built in Connemara in 1962. Local emigrants who emigrated to America send back money to pay for its construction and furnishing. It features a stained-glass window designed by artist Phyllis Burke. Making visible modernity, a rural setting and an emigrant community who funded the building.

Followed by a conversation with film director Laura Gannon and architect Jessica Reynolds, vPPR architects, with Fiona Kearney founding Director of the Glucksman Gallery, Cork. 

Film credits

Architect Part 1 (2025) 5 min
Featuring: Architect Jessica Reynolds
Composition: Susan Stenger
Location: Mayo farmhouse, a former home of the architect’s grandmother

Glass House (2022) 5 min 34 sec
Narrator: Stained glass artist Phyllis Burke
Location: Modernist Church Connemara designed by Leo Mansfield

Workshop / Roundtable Talk

Tithe ón Seansaol / Lost Houses

Laura O’Connor, Will Judge & Morgan Davies

Explore Lost Architecture  

Through presentations, round-table talks, and a hands-on workshop, exhibitors will unveil their design research and creative investigations into sites of lost buildings, forgotten homes, and overlooked architectural fragments scattered across Galway City’s rich cultural and social landscape.

Share Your Story

We invite you to bring a memory— a photograph, a story, an object, or a personal recollection. These prompts will spark a round-table discussion on themes of cultural identity, conservation, social history, and the unseen layers of our built environment.

Connect, Reflect, Reimagine 

Join us in a welcoming, inclusive setting for an afternoon of conversation, debate, and discovery. Together, we will recall and reimagine Galway City’s architectural heritage—lost or unseen, but not forgotten. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a unique celebration of local architectural history. Let’s uncover the stories that still live in the walls, streets, and memories of Galway City. Ready to join the conversation?

Scrúdaigh Gnéithe Ailtireachta a d’imigh i Léig  

Trí chur i láthair, plé boird, agus ceardlann phraiticiúil, léireoidh lucht an taispeántais toradh a gcuid taighde dearthóireachta agus fiosrúcháin faoi shuíomhanna ar a mbíodh foirgnimh a chuaigh i léig, árais chónaithe a ligeadh i ndearmad agus seanghnéithe ailtireachta nach dtugtar faoi deara a bhaineann le hoidhreacht chultúir agus shóisialta na Gaillimhe.

Do Scéalsa a Chur in Iúl

Tugtar cuireadh duit ábhar cuimhneacháin a thabhairt leat—grianghraf, scéal, earra nó do chuimhne cinn féin. Spreagfaidh an t-ábhar sin plé boird faoi théamaí maidir le ceangal cultúir, cúrsaí caomhnúcháin, an stair shóisialta agus sraitheanna den fhoirgníocht a théann gan iomrá.

Caidreamh, Smaoineamh, Athshamhlú 

Beidh fáilte romhat in éineacht linn ag an ócáid shoicheallach seo do thráthnóna comhrá, plé agus eolais. Tabharfaimid chun cuimhne oidhreacht ailtireachta na Gaillimhe atá imithe i léig nó ó amharc, ach nach bhfuil imithe ó chuimhne, agus déanfaimid athshamhlú uirthi in éineacht.

Ná lig uait an deis seo páirt a ghlacadh i gceiliúradh faoi leith ar stair ailtireachta an cheantair.  

Tiocfaimid le chéile ar scéalta atá fós beo taobh istigh de na ballaí, ar na sráideanna agus i gcuimhne na ndaoine i gcathair na Gaillimhe.

Réidh le cur leis an gcomhrá?

Project credits

Laura O’Connor, Will Judge and Morgan Davies are a dynamic collective of architectural designers based in Wales, they interpret heritage, landscape, and local traditions through drawing, writing, photography, and media. Their multidisciplinary research spans the Celtic nations, embracing diverse languages and cultures to reimagine architecture as a living dialogue shaped by social histories.

Cuallacht bhríomhar dearthóirí ailtireachta atá lonnaithe sa mBreatain Bheag, féachann siad le léirmhíniú a thabhairt ar ghnéithe den oidhreacht, den taobh tíre agus de shean-nósanna ceantair le saothar líníochta, scríbhneoireachta, grianghrafadóireachta agus meán cumarsáide. Déanann siad taighde ilchineálach ar fud thíortha na gCeilteach, le haird faoi leith ar theangacha agus ar chultúir éagsúla, le hathshamhlú a dhéanamh ar an ailtireacht mar chomhrá beo a thagann faoi anáil stair shóisialta na háite.

Supported by Galway City Council Architectural Conservation Office & Galway City Council Arts Office.

Once Upon A Sound with Yvonne McGuinness & Andrew Clancy, hosted by Dónal Dineen

Tickets €15 ( Dancing till late included)

Dónal’s guests include: Irish Artist Yvonne McGuinness & Architect Andrew Clancy, Clancy Moore Architects.

Dancing till late  >>>

Ticket holders are invited to join us later as we continue into the night with dancing till late!

Tickets €10 on the door.

>> Doors from 10pm

Dónal Dineen is an Irish DJ, radio presenter and film maker. A pioneering force for a generation of music fans, Donal is renowned for his deep passion for music as well as a curator of unique multi-disciplinary events.  Current projects include the music podcast Make Me An Island podcast and a documentary film Dance to Remember which will premiere at the Kerry Film Festival in October.

Dónal will be hosting a special live edition of his Once Upon A Sound video series at AATE where he’ll be exploring music as a source of inspiration for creative minds working in other media.

Taking our cue from the Desert Island Discs programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1942, guests will be invited to choose a selection of audio recordings that they would take with them if they were to be cast away on a desert island as a jump-off point for a discussion about the role sound plays in their practice.

Guest speakers;

Andrew Clancy: Is a director of Clancy Moore Architects, a practice he founded with Colm Moore in 2008.  He is full Professor of Architecture in the Kingston School of Art, a role he has held since 2018, and where he directs Register - a research group concerned with the fullest range of architectural practice. Since 2023 is has acted as visiting Professor to the Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio, and was Visiting Professor at the Arkitektskolen Aarhus, Denmark in 2015. He has examined and been a guest critic in a wide range of schools including ETH; HKU; EPFL; TUM; AHO; AA; London Met and TU Dublin.  He frequently writes critically about architecture, and has co-authored a book on the innovative housing work of the Danish Architect Kay Fisker, and acted as guest editor of the Japanese publication A+U on three occasions. He has a PhD from RMIT and is a member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. He is a board member of the Irish Arts Council / An Comhairle Ealíon. 

Yvonne McGuinness is a visual artist and filmmaker whose work critically examines place, belonging, and social dynamics within environments. Through performance-based films and installations, often created in collaboration with communities, she explores collective histories and identities. What’s Left Us Then, supported by the Arts Council, toured nationally and presented a poetic, feminist investigation of rural Irish concrete architecture. McGuinness’s interdisciplinary practice embraces chance and layered narratives, rigorously exploring the boundaries between documentary and performance.

KEYNOTE LECTURE:

Andrew Clancy, Clancy Moore Architects

Tickets: Free admission, but pre-booking is advised.

Andrew Clancy: Is a director of Clancy Moore Architects, a practice he founded with Colm Moore in 2008.  He is full Professor of Architecture in the Kingston School of Art, a role he has held since 2018, and where he directs Register - a research group concerned with the fullest range of architectural practice. Since 2023 is has acted as visiting Professor to the Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio, and was Visiting Professor at the Arkitektskolen Aarhus, Denmark in 2015. He has examined and been a guest critic in a wide range of schools including ETH; HKU; EPFL; TUM; AHO; AA; London Met and TU Dublin.  He frequently writes critically about architecture, and has co-authored a book on the innovative housing work of the Danish Architect Kay Fisker, and acted as guest editor of the Japanese publication A+U on three occasions. He has a PhD from RMIT and is a member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. He is a board member of the Irish Arts Council / An Comhairle Ealíon.  

Image Arklow Waste Water Treatment Plant, Clancy Moore Architects, by Camilla Crafa and Piera Bedin. 

The construction of the plant follows decades of failed attempts to gain planning. Here the architects design steered the design to approvals in a highly sensitive context. The result has been a dramatic improvement to local ecologies, amenity areas, and the economic prospects for the town. 

Unseen Potential: Adaptive Reuse & Regeneration for Thriving places

- Hosted by Galway Chamber

Galway Chamber, is committed to regeneration that creates the right environment for thriving communities across both city and county. Building on the recent  launch of its Adaptive reuse in Galway Report, the Chamber is convening a panel of experts to explore the unseen potential within existing buildings and streetscapes, and what practical steps can turn these spaces and places into new homes and vibrant neighbourhoods. 

Presentation / Roundtable Discussion  >>>

The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Ln, Galway.

16:00 – 17:00 h, Friday 03rd October
FREE entry - All are welcome, no booking required.

Moderated by Karen Ronan (CEO, Galway Chamber), the panel will bring together perspectives from planning, construction, conservation, and architecture.

Speakers include; 

Justin Molloy - Director, Construction Industry Federation (CIF) Western Region. 

Emmet Humphreys - Senior Executive Architect, Galway City Council.

Seán Dockry – MD at Seán Dockry and Associates (Architects)

Gus McCarthy - Director, MKO Planning and Environmental Consultants

Together they will explore how adaptive reuse, conservation, and planning innovation can address vacancy, provide new housing options, and strengthen neighbourhoods across the city and county. A founding partner of The Galway Charter, the event will open up further discussion on what practical steps we can take to support the faster, viable delivery of housing and urban/rural regeneration.  We are delighted to present this  special Architecture at the Edge Festival event in collaboration with Galway Chamber and partners.

Event organized by Galway City Chamber

Sub-Urban - Galway Charter Update
Hosted by Galway City Council Urban Development Directorship

FREE entry - All are welcome, no booking required

Can Galway be a ‘Compact City’ again? - Through generations of sprawling, low-density sub-urban growth, combined with a lack of critical infrastructure and service provision, Galway City now faces an immense challenge to continue to serve its growing community.

The Galway Charter has sought, through discussion and open debate, to find and define solutions to the multi-faceted challenges faced by the city. These solutions, crafted to respond to the unique conditions of Galway, will also inform a methodology that is transferrable to other European cities.

This event will present the practical implementation to-date of the Galway Charter’s principles, while affording opportunity to discuss and inform its further development.

Join us in this conversation.

Opening by Galway City Council’s Chief Executive, Leonard Cleary.

This event is supported by Galway City Council and hosted by Galway City Council Urban Development Directorship as part of Architecture at the Edge Festival 2025

Supported by Galway City Council.

Making Visible the Invisible:
Lucia Rebolino, Leon Butler, and Nicolas Guichard, Béatrice Lartigue (Lab212)

Artists Roundtable Talk
Tickets FREE - Reserve your spot (limited places)

Join Conn Holohan, Director of the Centre for Creative Technologies and a lecturer in film and media studies at the University of Galway for conversation with a panel of speakers to explore subjects pertaining to architecture, communication and society, viewed through the enriching lens of the convergence of art, science and technology.

Speakers include;

Leon Butler is an artist working at the intersection of art and technology. His work has been recognised by the Type Directors Club, 100 Archive, Digital Media Awards, and he is lecturer at ATU Galway City.  Recent projects include the immersive installation Phosphene for The Air We Share project which uses data from community air quality sensors to illuminate the invisible atmosphere and invites participants to explore Galways Westside in a new light.

Lucia Rebolino is an architect and research-based computational designer at Forensic Architecture in London. Her work interlaces science, art, and counter-cartography. Featured in e-flux and exhibited at the Venice Biennale, her research explores predictive models and data aesthetics. She has lectured internationally and previously taught computational design at Columbia GSAPP, New York.

Nicolas Guichard and Béatrice Lartigue , are members of the interdisciplinary art collective, Lab212  founded in 2008 in Paris. The Lab212 collective uses new media tools to create installations that explore our perception of space and sound. Their work considers such questions as; How to give materiality to our wireless networks data in the public space? How to transpose architecture into music? And how can we use AI to explore our relationship with our environment in a speculative and forward-looking way?

Moderator; Conn Holohan

Conn Holohan is Director of the Centre for Creative Technologies and a lecturer in film and media studies at the University of Galway. His research focuses on space and place in cinema and immersive media and he is the lead researcher on the Immersive Empathy project, which works with community organisations to co-create immersive media experiences on the theme of empathy.

This event is part of the LINA European Architecture Platform programme. 

Unpredictable Atmosphere
Lucia Rebolino in collaboration with Riccardo Petrini 

A lecture performance exploring climate models, unfolding academic research, and images within a dimensionless digital space as a streaming narrative. Unpredictable Atmosphere reimagines the internet as an optical device to unfold climate models in digital space. It addresses the limitations of AI foundation models in climate forecasting, which often ignore outliers—extreme weather events such as hurricanes and heatwaves—that push the atmosphere to its breaking point. These events represent phenomena that cannot be fully modelled and remain hidden in AI’s blind spots. Unpredictable Atmosphere views the atmosphere as an archive of transformation, much like an architectural object, preserving technological residues. It crumbles conventions and explores how outliers in counter-modelling practices can reshape our understanding of climate, weather, and space.

Part of the LINA architecture programme. 

Photographers, Aisling McCoy, Ste Murray in conversation with co-chairs Mark Shiel & Alice Clancy

Roundtable/ Talk >>>

The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane (off Quay Street)

19:00-20:30 hr, Friday, October 3rd 2025

FREE entry -  prebook is advised.

Preceded by Exhibition Tour >>>

Festival Printworks Gallery, Market Street, Galway

Aisling McCoy, Ste Murray in conversation with Mark Shiel and Alice Clancy (Chair) 

Please join us for a fascinating conversation about architectural photography - a key medium in disseminating knowledge and ideas about our built environment. Its creative process requires the presence of a photographer in time and place, witnessing the real world, then focusing attention on selected still images of buildings. These heighten our understanding of architecture while making the unseen seen. At the same time, many architectural photographers work commercially, documenting buildings according to a brief for a client (architect, developer, or property owner). This tension between art and function has been heightened in the digital age, in which architectural photography is just one type of ‘visualisation’. In response, this roundtable discussion asks: What makes architectural photography valuable as a medium? How is it evolving to meet changes in technology and the built environment? How can we encourage its growth and appreciation?

Co-conveners

Alice Clancy is engaged in a multi-disciplinary practice involving architectural education, curation and photography. Her work, often collaborative, explores how the built environment shapes and is shaped by social and environmental contexts. She has held notable curatorial roles at La Biennale Architettura in Venice, her photography has been widely published, and she has provided academic leadership at UCD Architecture with a focus on climate literate, inclusive pedagogy.

Mark Shiel is Professor of Film, Media, and Urban Studies at King’s College London, where he teaches filmmaking and photography of the built environment. His most recent film is the 30-minute documentary Madingley (2024), about the architecture of war memorials. He has also published five books and numerous essays, most recently “Ed Ruscha’s Street Photos and the Cinematic Sequence Shot”, in Ed Ruscha’s Streets of LA (Getty Research Institute, 2025).

Guests;

Aisling McCoy is an architect, photographer, and visual artist whose practice explores how we inhabit and imagine place. Her work is an ongoing investigation into the parallels between architecture and photography, how both disciplines negotiate ideas about the real and ideal, and how both influence how we make place, and construct meaning. 

Ste Murray is a photographer based in Dublin. He primarily works with architects, theatre makers, and arts organisations, framing their work through the camera and enjoying the various conditions and challenges these areas have to offer. He interprets and re-presents their work. Most of his work is commissioned, but he works on personal projects and exhibitions parallel to this. His main interests are the changing spatial qualities of the world around us, patterns & habits of societies, and the transience of time.

Introducing Architecture:
Samuel Gonçalves

Samuel Gonçalves
Director SUMMARY Architecture

Founded by Samuel Gonçalves, SUMMARY is a Portugal-based architecture studio focused on accelerating and simplifying construction through modular systems and prefabrication. With a pragmatic yet experimental approach, the studio has developed a range of building solutions aimed at optimizing time, resources, and the construction process itself. From installations at the Venice Biennale and virtual exhibitions to large-scale projects such as educational and public housing buildings, SUMMARY explores how off-site production can be a powerful tool for rethinking the way we build.

In this lecture, Samuel Gonçalves will present SUMMARY’s work, reflecting on how industrialized construction methods can benefit cities, improve conditions for workers, and address the often-invisible environmental weight of buildings.

The event takes place as part of the AATE Design Lab learning programme for young people aged 16-25 year olds.

Introducing Architecture: 
Robert Bourke Architects

Robert Bourke — Director 
BA BAI DipArch MRIAI

Having initially trained as a structural engineer at Trinity College Dublin, Robert went on to study architecture at Technical University Dublin and University of East London, gaining his Certificate in Professional Practice and Management at University College London in 2007. Robert established his architectural design practice, RBA, in 2010, after having gained experience in London, Amsterdam and Berlin. His Dublin-based office works on a diverse range of projects including homes, community buildings and places for education and work. The practice has built a reputation for award-winning designs, winning RIAI Best Emerging Practice in 2014 and numerous national awards. Their designs are developed through an open, collaborative and exploratory design process, resulting in unique spaces of character, integrity and material richness. Robert is also a Design Fellow at the School of Architecture, University College Dublin, where he has been teaching since 2013.

The event takes place as part of the AATE Design Lab learning programme for young people aged 16-25 year olds. To register interest in the programme
Email: learning@architectureattheedge.com 

Workshop & Talk

Denise Murray, CoLab / Metropolitan Workshop
Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley 
Seamus Ruttledge 
Teresa O’ Sullivan
Ethna Rose O’Regan 
in conversation with Maeve O Rourke (Chair) 

Preceded by Exhibition Tour in the Festival Printworks Gallery.

Talk at the Table followed by Kamayan (Filipino feast)

hosted by Eduard Valenzuela & Brian Ó Curnáin

Speakers include;

Sophie El Nimir I 

Sophie is an architect and urban practitioner, currently Urban Design Officer at the London Borough of Havering through Public Practice. She gained distinction for her MA Cities research at Central Saint Martins, where she explored new approaches to citymaking and critically reimagined urban design practices in Dublin.

Luis Pedro I

Luís, originally from Portugal and a graduate of Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa, is a member of both the RIAI and Ordem dos Arquitectos Portugueses. At A2 Architects, he has led public housing and public realm projects in Dun Laoghaire and Sallynoggin, while also teaching architecture at University College Dublin.

Sarah Adekoya I 

Sarah Adekoya, a graduate of the Dublin School of Architecture, is committed to addressing the underrepresentation of Black female Irish architects. She advocates for greater inclusivity in the profession, ensuring diverse voices shape the built environment and reflect the communities architecture serves.

Gavin Fahy I 

Gavin Fahy is the founder of 1815 F.C, a DIY community Football Club based in Dublin that plays on a different free public pitch around Ireland every week. The club has devised inclusive strategies for matches, helped found new DIY Community Clubs in Belfast, Cork and Galway, lobbied for public space against developers,and renamed public parks as an act of solidarity and protest.

Tambayan addresses Ireland’s decline in youth public spaces through reclaimed-material builds, film, and talks. Creating inclusive places for gathering, belonging, and connection.”

Project credits

Eduard Valenzuela is a Part I architect from Dublin, currently completing his Master’s degree at Central Saint Martins in London. Winner of the Thornton Education Trust Prize, his work explores themes of representation and identity in the public realm, with a particular focus on the transformative potential of youth culture.

Brian Ó Curnáin is an architecture student from Conamara, Galway. He has studied at UCD and TU Delft, worked at the Venice Biennale, and contributed to the As an Gceo exhibition. A recipient of the TET Prize and the John Meagher Bursary, his work explores culture, community, and public space.

‘Tambayan’ builds on last year’s award-winning workshops, addressing the decline of public spaces for young people in Ireland by creating inclusive, communal environments through participatory design. The project engages young people in co-designing and constructing three key elements of a Tambayan - a place to sit, a table, and a roof, entirely from reclaimed or donated materials. This hands-on process fosters collaboration, creativity, and a sense of ownership while teaching participants to see value in materials often discarded.

Alongside the physical build, a short film explores the stories of the Filipino-Irish community, highlighting themes of migration, adaptation, and belonging. The completed structures will temporarily activate underused public spaces, inviting dialogue and imaginative engagement with the urban realm. During the Architecture at the Edge Festival in Galway, the Tambayan will be presented in the Printworks Gallery alongside a series of talks, shared meals, and screenings, advocating for more accessible, youth-focused public spaces in Ireland.

Supported by Grafton Architects

Part of the AATE Design Lab learning programme 

Joar Nango

 "What could architecture look like if it reflected the nomadic way of life?

Groundbreaking Sámi artist and architect Joar Nango presents his creative practice followed by a discussion with Traveller Architect Brian Ward and Oein de Bhardúin.

Joar Nango is presented in Galway, by the Irish Architecture Foundation in partnership with Miselór Festival of Nomadic Cultures and in collaboration with Architecture at the Edge. It is part of Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, the IAF's international speaker and talks programme which meets audiences with architecture where they are on the island of Ireland.

Supported by Irish Architecture Foundation