Close Encounter:

Close Encounter returns home to tour Ireland. 16 Irish architect teams were invited to reimagine 16 iconic works while remaining true to the core idea of the original building.

Together with our collaborator, Hugh Campbell, we asked sixteen, contemporary practicing architect teams to research one selected building, each of which was chosen by us. Close Encounter calls on the generosity of each of the invited architects to ‘take’ the work of another architect and help it to be remembered, understood, re-valued and appreciated for its own inherent worth”.

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Curators, FREESPACE.

Following from the success of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia 2018, we are proud to be producing the tour of Close Encounter. The tour gives us a chance to leave a lasting legacy in Ireland for Irish architects, architecture and artistic culture, and will catalyse that legacy for all the participants. In this group of sixteen teams, there was a mix of both emerging and more established practitioners. The tour will give opportunity to all participants to present their work to an Irish audience.

Within the concept of Close Encounter, each assigned the work of an architect from the past, chosen by the curators. The task is for each practice to interpret this work in a way, which represented the core idea of the chosen building, in a way that will communicate with the public, and in a way, which will bring the legacy of this work alive.

Close Encounter: Meetings with Remarkable Buildings grew out of the Venice Mentoring Initiative as a Special Project of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Curators of Freespace, the 16th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice.