Dublin social housing photographic exhibition at IAA

Dublin social housing photographic exhibition at IAA

The provision of social housing is always politically charged, and the architecture of social housing can be inseparable from that politics. The buildings cease to be seen as buildings and are only viewed through the prism of the perceived successes or, perhaps more often, failures of individual schemes. And yet, the architecture deserves to be examined in its own right. The photographs of Dutch photographer Willem Heeffer do just this.

Born in Hilvarenbeek in 1980, Heeffer studied at the Eindhoven Design Academy where he worked with the architect Wim Cuyvers, and graduated from the Department of Public Space in 2004. He moved to Ireland in October 2005 and now lives between Dublin and Helsinki working on design and photography projects.

Clear and detached, these photographs record a number of Dublin social housing schemes built between the late 1950s and the early 1970s. All were photographed as they were being, or just after they had been, cleared of tenants in preparation for their impending demolition.

In the exhibition catalogue, art historian William Laffan notes that ‘Heeffer photographs the Dublin flats in a format that traditionally has been accorded only to more elevated architectural typologies. His rigorously symmetrical presentation and low vantage point combine to give the block at O’Devaney Gardens – despite its dilapidated condition – the aappearance of a twelve-bay mansion, and the building almost stands on its dignity and insists on its equality… Despite his seemingly dispassionate, unmediated approach, Heeffer extracts a similar beauty from the desolate remains of Dublin flats as others have from more promising material’.

Heeffer’s camera looks beyond the common-place perceptions of the subjects as hubs of disappointment and discontent. The buildings emerge from layers and years of preconceptions and prejudice to be examined on their architectural merits. What, if any, those merits are is a judgement the individual viewer will ultimately make.

‘Dublin Flats. An exhibition of photographs of Dublin social housing by Willem Heeffer’ in the Irish Architectural Archive Gallery from 10 March to 20 May 2011, 45 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. The Irish Architectural Archive Exhibition Gallery is open to the public from 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesdays to Fridays. Access is free. All are welcome.

To accompany the exhibition, the following lecture series has been arranged:

Tuesday 15 March 2011 at 1.15pm

From dog boxes to sun balconies: Dublin Corporation flat schemes, 1890-1940

Dr Ruth McManus, St. Patrick’s College, Dublin

Tuesday 29 March 2011 at 1.15pm

What I have learned so far in Ballymun

Ray Yeates, Axis Arts Centre Director, Ballymun, Dublin

Tuesday 5th April 2011 at 1.15pm

From the Edges: Housing + Neighbourhood Renewal

Gerry Cahill, GCA Architects + School of Architecture, University College Dublin

Tuesday 12th April 2011 at 1.15pm

A brief architectural history of the urban block in Dublin, 1930 – 1970

Ellen Rowley, Architectural Historian

Tuesday 19 April 2011 at 1.15pm

Legacy of public housing – Dublin

Ali Grehan, City Architect, Dublin City Council

Tuesday 10th May 2011 at 1.15pm

Dublin Flats

Willem Heeffer, Photographer of ‘Dublin Flats’

All lectures are free and open to the public and take place in the Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, Dublin. For booking and further information please contact the Archive at 01 6633040 or slincoln@iarc.ie