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New Horizon: Architecture from Ireland exhibits the work of ten emerging Irish practices across three host sites: London, Chicago, and Shenzen-Hong Kong. Selected by curators Raymund Ryan and Nathalie Weadick, three to four architects are assigned to each host city, each addressing key aspects in their work as considered through issues specific to their installation sites. The Chicago iteration, the second installment of this exhibition at the Chicago Design Museum during the Chicago Architecture Biennial, features Dublin-based A2 Architects, Ryan Kennihan, and GKMP Architects. New Horizon draws from key moments in contemporary Irish architecture, and participants belong to a generation of architects who commenced their practices as the Irish economy entered fraught times. All have thrived by considering Ireland while being conscious of international architecture, discovering potential in previously overlooked situation, and collaborating across disciplines to develop new modes of critical practice.

A2 Architects was established by Peter Carroll and Caomhán Murphy in 2005. Based in Dublin, the practice is founded on a shared interest in both the continuing development of architectural practice and the unchanging, essential nature of architecture. From its origins in educational building and residential work, the practice has grown to encompass interior design, urban realm projects, curation, and exhibition design. The principals publish, lecture, and collaborate regularly with international artist John Gerrard. A2 was nominated, along with Gerrard, for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture/Mies van der Rohe Award (2015) for Pulp Press, Kistefos, Norway, and has won national and international awards, including multiple Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Irish Architecture Awards.

Ryan Kennihan studied architecture at Cornell University. Originally from Chicago, he has been based in Dublin, Ireland, since 2002, and established his practice there in 2007. He has taught architecture at University College Dublin and the Dublin School of Architecture at DIT, where he is currently a lecturer. His practice also includes landscape architecture and interior architecture, and he is a registered architect with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and Grade 3 accredited in architectural conservation. His practice has been the recipient of numerous design awards, including the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland Award for Best Emerging Practice (2011) and three (out of six awarded) Architecture Association of Ireland Awards for the best buildings of 2013.

GKMP Architects is a Dublin-based practice headed by principals Grace Keeley and Michael Pike. Focusing on house design, domestic extensions, public spaces, and tourist facilities, the practice has received a number of design awards, including an OPUS Architecture and Construction Award (2010) and multiple commendations at the Irish Architecture Awards (2008 to 2014). Their work has been published internationally and has also been included in a number of exhibitions, including Rebuilding the Republic: New Irish Architecture, 2000–2010 in Leuven, Belgium, and Describing Architecture at the Irish Georgian Society.

Raymund Ryan is curator of the Heinz Architectural Center at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. His exhibitions in Pittsburgh include Frank Lloyd Wright: Renewing the Legacy (2005), Gritty Brits: New London Architecture (2007), and Laboratory of Architecture/Fernando Romero (2009). White Cube, Green Maze: New Art Landscapes opened at the Carnegie in 2012 and at Yale School of Architecture in 2013. Ryan was commissioner for Irish participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000 and 2002; worked for Kevin Roche in Hamden, Connecticut, and Arthur Erickson in Los Angeles; taught at the School of Architecture, University College Dublin, from 1993 to 2003; and served on competition juries and as a studio critic at universities across the United States. In addition to authoring a number of works, he has been a nominator or advisor for many publications, exhibitions, and award programs across the United States and Europe.

Nathalie Weadick is director of the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF), a national organization committed to communicating architecture to the public. She developed the successful Open House Dublin initiative, as well as established a national and international program of events and exhibitions. In 2014, she curated The Everyday Experience, an art and architecture season in the Irish Museum of Modern Art. In 2010, she was commissioner for the Irish exhibition at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice, and in 2008, was cocommissioner and cocurator of The Lives of Spaces at Venice. She is an author, a member of the Curating Architecture Forum at Goldsmiths College and the Architectural Humanities Research Association, a committee member of the Government Policy on Architecture Advisory Panel (Ireland), and a regular advisor for European Prize for Urban Public Space (Barcelona). In 2010, she was awarded a place on the British Council’s Cultural Leadership International Program.

Tanner Woodford is the cofounder and executive director of the Chicago Design Museum and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He holds a BS in Design from Arizona State University, and a design patent for product design at Intel. As a leader across disciplines and departments at the Chicago Design Museum, he has organized a number of both pop-up and long-term exhibitions, the most recent including Starts/Speculations: Graphic Design in Chicago Past and Future, Deborah Sussman Loves Los Angeles!, and The State of Detroit.

Matthew Terdich is executive creative director at the Chicago Design Museum and principal and cofounder of Programme, a Chicago-based graphic design studio. He holds an MS in visual communication from the Basel School of Design and an MFA and BFA in graphic design from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Terdich teaches at the UIC and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, serves on the board of AIGA Chicago, and contributes to the international design magazine Neshan. His work has been recognized and exhibited by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Print, AIGA 365, and Index.

Founded in 2012, the Chicago Design Museum is a youthful, adaptable, non-profit institution that strengthens design culture and builds community. We define design holistically, encompassing graphic design, architecture, urban planning, interior design, systems thinking, and more. We believe that design has the capacity to fundamentally improve the human condition, and our location in the Chicago Loop fosters free, open, and honest engagement with diverse audiences through our permanent collection, rotating exhibitions, and educational programming.

“NewHorizon, Architecture from Ireland” is open at the Design Museum Chicago from Oct 02, 2015 to Jan 02, 2016, as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Stay tuned for more info!

Graham Foundation; 2015