Biography
I am an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) at the School of Architecture and Product Design where I follow interests in landscape, writing, drawing and photography in my teaching and research. I hold a B.Arch. from University College Dublin and a PhD from the Department of Geography, University College Cork. I practised as an architect with Grafton Architects in Dublin for two years and was editor of building material, the journal of the Architectural Association of Ireland, for another two years. From 2002 to 2004 I was a part-time tutor in Geography at UCC, and from 2004 to 2006 was a part-time tutor in Architecture at UCD. In 2012 Ashgate published my research monograph, Where Land Meets Sea: coastal explorations of landscape, representation and spatial experience, and it was re-published by Routledge in 2016. Recent essays have focused on architectural thinking on the coast; topography and spatial experience; writing methods; and spatial literature.Research Interests
My research follows interests in landscape, the coast, and modes of writing. I am developing work on a number of projects: the practice of spatial writing, through the writing of narrative fiction and creative non-fiction in specific physical contexts; an exploration of the writing of landscape in particular contemporary Irish literature; and a visual and textual study of the Irish seaside resort through contemporary student photography paralleled with eighteenth to twentieth-century travel writing and nascent tourist literature.PhD supervisionCompleted:
Sharon O'Brien, 2020, For Space in Landscape Character Assessment (co-supervision with Prof. Merritt Bucholz).
Eimear Tynan, 2022, Tempo-Materialities: encounters with time along Arctic island coasts at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway (co-supervision with Prof. Andrew Morrison, AHO).
Current:
Claire Downey, Dark Potential: Navigating Spatial Possibility in the Paris Night (co-supervision with Dr. Michael Kelly, School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics, AHSS) – commenced 2019.
Helen McFadden, Re-thinking the Construction of the Coastal Edge in the face of Climate Change (co-supervision with Dr. Declan Phillips (School of Engineering, UL); Dr. Eimear Tynan (Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, The Arctic University of Norway); and Dr. Steve Larkin (School of Architecture, Building and Environment, TU-Dublin) - commenced June 2023, funded by the Faculty of Science and Engineering Sustainability Scholars Scheme.
M.Arch. (by research) supervisionCompleted:
Rosemarie Webb, 2010, Developing a Living City Process: An Architect's Approach to Enabling Interdisciplinary Practice in Infrastructure Development (co-supervision with Prof Merritt Bucholz).
Professional Activities
Award
- 2011 - Shortlisted for the Shannon Consortium Regional Award for Excellence in Higher Education Teaching
- 2006 - Ireland Canada University Foundation Award
- 2004 - Professional Training and Development Award
- 2003 - Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship
Education
- 2008 University College Cork - PhD
- 2000 University College Dublin - B.Arch.
Association
- Steering Group, Ongoing - Member of Steering Group - All-Ireland Architecture Research Group (AIARG)