Pa� O'Neill, O’Neill Architecture

First Impressions

From an early age I have been interested inhow society could live more in unison with itsnatural surroundings. I o�en feel we distanceand alienate ourselves from nature; we see itas something that needs to be controlled to at-tain physical and mental comfort. Yet I believehumans have a fundamental requirement forconnec�vity: a need to connect to people, na-ture and the world at large. At college I was ex-posed to different methods of architecture,but most addressed the need to be protectedfrom nature. The environment was only takeninto account where structurally required froman engineering viewpoint.

However, I felt these methods did li�le to secure

a sense of connec�vity with our surroundings.Then I came across the work of the architectProf Lebbeus Woods from New York City, USA.I was drawn to the project DMZ which ad-dresses the landscape, reacts and relates toit. It seemed to me to array a freedom andstood in strong contrast to the Bauhaus conceptswhich a great deal of our modern architectureis based on.

So in 1993 during my college years, I packedmy bags and went to New York to ask Prof Woodsif I could do a project under his guidance. Heagreed. For eight months every two weeks wewould meet. He guided me in how to follow myown path. Nothing was prescrip�ve, everythingwas possible and it was o�en frightening.

Gradually a building formed on the then deso-late south �p of Roosevelt Island off Manha�an,drawing the visitor closer to the different naturalexperiences in, along and under the East River.

IT’S ALL IN

THE METHODAs the inexorable rise of sustainable building technology and materials con�nues apace there is a growing argumentthat much of architecture s�ll reflects our unsustainable recent past. Must sustainable architecture shi� awayfrom 20th century aesthe�cs, leaving behind the oil and resource-fuelled op�mism of modernism? Must sustainablearchitecture not only address but express the threats posed by climate change and resource scarcity? ArchitectsPa� O'Neill and Sharon O'Brien describe the influences and the methodology that underpin their visions of environmentallyorientated architecture.

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Research for placing architecture: landscape + art = architectureOn successful comple�on of the architecturaleduca�on system I set out on another six yearjourney of explora�on, inves�ga�on and study,this �me to achieve a personal philosophy ofarchitecture. I received funding from variousGerman and Irish government organisa�ons.The results are compiled in the book PlacingArchitecture. It describes a method of architectureemploying a strong ar�s�cally and intui�vely-led approach that brings the art in architectureto the foreground. It concludes with the plac-ing of architecture in natural landscapes aroundthe world. It is ques�onable if the results cans�ll be classified as architecture as opposed tolandscape installa�ons or art works, yet theyare spaces and enclosures. Their func�ons de-part from the conven�onal path, and bringback into focus a depth to life which is o�enout of reach. The buildings evoke medita�ons onchange, �me and the cycle of life and death.

A biography: the explora�on of childhoodabodesI chose three contras�ng natural landscapes,as untouched as possible by human influence;dune landscape by the sea, set on the NorthSea coast in Germany; desertscape, located inthe high deserts of New Mexico, USA; and bog-lands, set in Ireland. The choices were guidedby childhood abodes located near these land-scapes. I felt this previous connec�on wouldenhance my experience. I examined the ar-chaic and na�ve features of each habitat andits ecology, incorpora�ng orienta�on and cli-mate, as well as some of the cultural and aes-the�cal backdrops of the country.

A method of architecture: landscape + art = architectureThis method entails a prolonged onsite studyof the landscapes through photography andpain�ng. Back in the studio, key pain�ngs aretransformed into three dimensional objects.The next step involves returning to the topog-raphy of the landscape, choosing a loca�onand enlarging, expanding and reassemblingthe objects into architecture. This method en-sures that the architecture will have a sense ofplace and connec�vity to the site, and by em-ploying pain�ng and sculpture, the architec-ture is guaranteed a strong aesthe�c quality. �

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(opposite) The lines between site and building blur at Lebbeus Woods’ DMZ design; (above) PattiO’Neill’s photographs of Irish boglands, German sand dunes and New Mexico desertscapes; (below)O’Neill’s design of a Conical Dune, with a guiding wall leading to the highest point in a sand dune,then into a building passing through a courtyard of blue, opaque glass, causing blue light to floodthe room below

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An environmental project: crea�ng a connec�onto our natural surroundingsThe results of the projects shown are interac-�ve buildings that solely address the unique-ness of the environments they are placed in.Their func�on is to bring the visitor closer tothese primal and archaic worlds and encour-age a deeper experience and awareness on aphysical, mental and spiritual level. At the same�me, in the case of The Bog-Bubble, they drawa�en�on to our threatened landscapes andhighlight the impending danger they are in ifle� unprotected. Therefore in essence, theprojects carry the crucial message of environ-

mental awareness.

Recent impressions

Tradi�onal buildingSince comple�ng my research I have beenbuilding. The more I build the more I havecome to admire tradi�onal buildings and thematerials used. My research had strengthenedmy ability to apply intui�ve knowledge whichI surmise to be the method of our forebears.It permi�ed them to build and live with theirenvironment for many centuries. Their approach

allowed ci�es to grow in a natural way. In theaerial view of Marrakesh this organic develop-ment is apparent as the city grew building bybuilding leaving a complex pa�ern which tellsthe stories of the genera�ons of people wholived there.

In the example of Pis�cci, Italy, we see a sim-ple house typology is repeated and varia�on isachieved by adap�ng to the contours of the ty-pography. The city of Shibam in the Yemen isone of the greatest marvels of our ancestorsbuilt over 500 years ago. Using earth, stoneand wood, they were able to create eightstorey houses which through their height andposi�oning created natural air-condi�oning atstreet level in a desert environment that o�enreaches over 40C – and all that without elec-tricity. Here in Ireland we built with naturalstone and lime mortar. The stone walls werebuilt over two feet wide with the middle sec-�on filled with clay for extra insula�on!

Breathable building materialsWith this interest in tradi�onal buildings, anawareness of the materials the people whobuilt them used became another focal point.

Most materials they used aged beau�fully, anatural pa�na and ageing process sets in whichenhances and gives the buildings more andmore character as �me goes by. Another dis-covery was the fact that most of these materi-als were breathable and hence worked withvarying humidity levels. And finally most ma-terials were natural and therefore a�er use re-turned back into the earth without crea�ngwaste disposal problems.

Global wasteIt is es�mated that 40% of global waste todayis from the construc�on industry. To addressthis growing concern there are helpful lessonsto be learnt from the past. We can specify nat-ural, recycled and recyclable materials for theconstruc�on of our buildings. The selec�on isvast; for wall construc�on - poroton mono-lithic clay blocks, or �mber frame with wood-fibre insula�on board, 100% sheep wool insula�on,wooden window and door frames, for roofconstruc�on - natural slate and waterproofingmembranes of toxin-free polymer bases, forsub-structures - foam glass gravel for structureand insula�on, just to name a few.

These materials fulfil zero waste creden�als,none of them requires the use of toxic plas�cfoams or membranes and therefore do not

(above) The Bog-Bubble is a design of an accessible, translucent, double membrane pneumatic struc-ture. A round bubble-like shape reaches an approximate interior four metre height, a four metrewidth and a 6 metre length. It is submerged two-thirds into the bog

contribute to our global problem of waste.

Healthy buildingsAddi�onally, these materials are breathableand create healthy room environments whichassist in regula�ng the moisture contents ofour buildings as opposed to wall systems usingvapour barriers such as air�ght membranes orconcrete. A healthy room environment is es-pecially important as we spend much more�me indoors than our ancestors did.

Spreading the methodPreviously described is the mix of impressionsthat have inspired environmentally consciousbuildings in my architecture prac�ce over thelast three years. In summary the strength ofthe methodology lies in the apprecia�on of thesurrounding natural environment and con-stant awareness of its orienta�on to the sun.

Some�mes it entails just minor adjustments tothe conven�onal building design and construc�onmethods.

But overall sustainability cannot be compart-mentalised or reduced to a box �cking exercisefrom a list of building regula�ons. It requires aholis�c mind-set and approach to architectureof how we live in and with our environment.

This developed methodology is being shared �

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(clockwise from above left) Aerial view of Marrakesh, Pisticci and Shibam; an Irish stone cottage;foam glass gravel; Sheep Wool Insulation’ natural wool insulating an attic; Gutex wood fibre boardinsulation; and Thermoplan poroton blocks

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in different architecture colleges, one of whichis Waterford Ins�tute of Technology, where itis being successfully applied with interes�ngstudent outcomes described below by lecturerand architect Sharon O'Brien.

Sharon O'Brien, Department of Architecture,Waterford Ins�tute of Technology

Landscape medita�ons.... for architecturestudents?My studio collabora�ons with architect Pa�O’Neill began in 2010 when I invited her to lectureand run a workshop with fourth year studentsof architecture in the Department of Architec-ture at Waterford Ins�tute of Technology.

The second semester fourth year studio module,Rural Complexi�es, is concerned solely with ar-chitecture in landscape. The module examinesthe issues related to contemporary architec-tural interven�ons in a landscape se�ng, pro-viding the students with the design challengeof integra�ng buildings within the rural land-scapes of Co Waterford. These varied landscapes,river estuaries, river valleys, mountain terrainand several coastal zones are the laboratoryfor the studio and it is the inten�on of the stu-dio to study one of Waterford’s landscape ty-pologies each year.

Most design studio projects begin with a read-ing of the selected landscape (Reading the IrishLandscape by Frank Mitchell and Michael Ryanis a key informing text). A site analysis stagefollows with the contextual mapping of thephysical and cultural landscape of the selectedsite, a “tracing of territory” as the eminent ar-chitect Peter Salter calls it. Innova�ons in con-textual mapping of landscape by Professor ClemensSteenbergen of TU Del� are a constant refer-ence within the studio.

However, in spite of the applica�on of a vari-ety of site analysis techniques, I began to ob-serve as a studio tutor that the students s�llseemed detached from the place that theyshould by now know. Why was the site not in-forming the students in an in-depth senseabout the place? Was there another less con-ven�onal, less empirical analy�cal method outthere to define the student’s personal inter-preta�on of place? Should we be pu�ng ourefforts into a kind of conceptual mapping methodrather than a contextual one? The author TimD Robinson says that “A map… is intended as agraphic expression of a sense of place”. Wewere looking to achieve this sense of place forour students.

A�er reading Placing Architecture, I felt thatPa�’s intui�vely-led methodology might allowthe student to have an enhanced connec�vityto landscape, a connec�vity that she gainsthrough her own work method.

Pa� begins our collabora�on each year with �

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interna�onal(opposite) Projects by O’NeillArchitecture including a Lim-erick City extension previouslyfeatured in Construct Irelandand a house extension thatwraps around 45 degrees tocatch the evening sun; (left)images from Professor ClemensSteenbergen of TU Delft’s booksSea of land: the polder as anexperimental atlas of Dutchlandscape architecture and(below) Architecture andlandscape: the design experi-ment of the great Europeangardens and landscapes

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an introductory lecture – last year �tled: Re-flec�ons on Landscape, this year, ConceptualMapping and Design – with talks supported byvisual examples of her working method andoutcomes in private prac�se. The workshoptakes place at selected sites where studentsreach intui�ve responses to the landscape con-text through photography, pain�ng and sketching.

The landscape is recorded (the aspect of thelandscape that that student finds relevant tothemselves), but not in a representa�onal way– in a way that is closer to the language of ar-chitecture, a language of space, composi�on,texture, colour, light and scale.

The 3D models are o�en experiments in ab-stract spa�al rela�onships between landscapeelements. The making of the model makes thearchitectural student suddenly aware of land-scape scale, composi�on form, and materiality,but not in a representa�ve way – in an abstractway that leads to conceptual thinking aboutspace to scale rela�onships between land-scape elements, and composi�onal rela�on-ships within landscape.

Students frequently return to these modelsduring later stages in the design project to re-mind themselves of what it was about the landscapethat became relevant to them as designers.

Not all aspects of the abstrac�on are broughtforward into design. Some�mes only a colour ora texture from the landscape studies is all thatremains, but this is from the place and of �

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(Clockwise from above) a painting and 3D modelsby WIT architecture student Katy Pearson

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the place and that is what counts.

The results are insigh�ul and the students arefully engaged with place. The inten�on is notfor the architectural interven�on to be an em-bodiment of the landscape, but for the inter-ven�on to embody the essence of the landscape.

A period of intense ‘looking’ leads to a ques-�oning of why things look the way they do, whythey are made from a par�cular material for apar�cular place, and this in turns leads to enquiryand finally understanding of the latent forcesthat shape/have shaped the landscape, andcould shape architecture that is placed within it.

The method draws out the student’s personalinterpreta�on of the landscape. It producesvery individual responses leading to diversedesign responses. Two students can focus onthe same landscape space and look at thesame view and express this view and see verydifferent things. Some students take a widefocus, some an in�mate focus. Each studentsees something different and this is the truevalue of the exercise. This process appears tohelp students to unlock a latent sense of thelandscape before them – a sense that is notuniversal, but very personal. This personal en-

gagement with place is key to how an architectresponds to the place.

Place is not just the site, but the landscape withinwhich it sits. Pa� O’Neill’s method is also aboutseeing beyond the project site, seeing the en-�re landscape and the spa�al rela�onship be-tween the elements of landscape and architecture.She is not alone in understanding the impor-tance of considering landscape as a wholecomposi�on where each architectural inter-ven�on has a part to play. Clemens Steenber-gen also sees the importance of “building theimage” of a place, a term that I have appropri-ated from urban theorist Kevin Lynch who cre-ated a method for building the image of the cityso that the city could be be�er understood.

Through her work, Pa� may have discovereda methodology for allowing architects to buildthis image of landscape and reach greater lev-els of understanding with it. With an interest ininnova�ve architectural design and teachingmethods, the Department of Architecture atWaterford Ins�tute of Technology is more thanwilling to con�nue to test her method and itspoten�al for enhancing the rela�onship be-tween our beau�ful landscapes and the archi-tects of tomorrow.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Pa� O'Neill is an architect and setup O'Neill Architecture in 2009. Shereceived a Highly Commended awardin the Best Emerging Prac�ce cate-gory at the 2011 RIAI Awards. She isthe author of Placing Architecture,Landscape + Art = Architecture,published in 2008 by the AK IlenCompany.

Sharon O’Brien is an architect andlecturer/course leader in the De-partment of Architecture at Water-ford Ins�tute of Technology. She iscurrently taking a Masters Degreeby Research at the School of Archi-tecture University of Limerick (SAUL).Her research area is architectureand landscape.

(above and below) Drawings by WIT architecture student Tomas Gardiner

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