The CITY LIFE summer programme, hosted jointly by University College Dublin (UCD) and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), will give students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds the opportunity to observe and engage with the ongoing transformation of Dublin today. Through its close relationship to many key institutions and authorities, the summer school will offer participants unprecedented access to the stakeholders currently negotiating Dublin’s response to global urban conditions.
As an initiative of the PLUS (NCAD+UCD) project, this joint summer school brings together staff from two leaders in the Irish academic landscape. NCAD occupies a unique position in art and design education in Ireland, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The PLUS project in UCD is led by the School of Architecture, which is the only such school in Ireland to be accredited by the professional institutes of both Ireland and Britain; the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, and the Royal Institute of British Architecture. In addition, the School is currently in the process of seeking US accreditation from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).
Programme Features
• A base in Dublin’s vibrant inner city, which will be both setting for and subject of the School’s programme.
• Intensive workshops, studio sessions, plenary lectures and seminars.
• Unique access to leaders in the cultural and creative sectors, including practitioners, artists, museum directors, urban government officials, and critical thinkers.
• A three-week programme progressing from skills acquisition, studio work, and research to final projects to include exhibition, presentation, and publication.
• Accommodation in the heart of the city, minutes from the summer school’s headquarters.
Thematic Tracks – Choose Your Specialism
The core aim of this programme is the investigation of new narratives for urban life in Dublin. Participants choose from one of five specialist programme tracks, and also come together for seminars and workshops around a core theme of Critical Urbanism. This will provide grounding in theoretical approaches to the urban as well as highlighting issues of particular significance to the Irish context.
Architecture: Designing urban interventions guided by faculty from UCD Architecture, key figures in architectural practice and highprofile researchers.
Culture, Memory & The City: Investigating the relationship between memory and the city, through psychogeographic and critical writing practices.
Interaction Design: A project-focused track to design, prototype and evaluate the interaction of the human and the digital in a real-world setting, while acquiring skills in physical computing.
Urban History & Material Culture: Utilising design analysis, architectural history and material culture methods to explore the development, planning, architecture and everyday experience of Dublin.
Spatial Arts And Visualization: (In collaboration with IADT) Pursuing temporal, spatial and critical visualization and representation of ‘Unseen Dublin’ through project-based work with expert support.
To download the programme: click here.