MATTHEW HAWES – WSA On Display 2020

“Weather, Light & Time: Attuning to place through architecture, weather and landscape.”

Can an architecture and landscape be instrumental in the experiential dimensions of weather and place?

Inspired by landscape artists and their ability to capture the subtleties of place and the visual dimensions of its light and weather, depicting how these change over time, the thesis asks if the same can be achieved through architecture. Taking inspiration from late nineteenth and twentieth century Irish landscape painters, the project seeks to embrace the atmospheric qualities and dramatic landscape of Achill Island and the Irish west coast through a creative retreat and study centre for arts and humanities students at NUI Galway and an associated landscape experience centre for tourists travelling along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. The project proposed is the antithesis of ‘exclusive’ architecture. It suggests that our experience can be elevated by connecting to the subtleties of light, weather and time that characterise a place. Instead of shutting the external environment out, architecture should embrace it and become receptive to the variable conditions of the sky, the light and the weather.