The Waterford Festival of Architecture opens on Thursday April 26 with this year’s theme “The Living City” aiming to celebrate the life of the City through the built environment and encourage the public to engage with the city on a more intimate level. An exciting programme includes film screenings, workshops, exhibitions, and scavenger hunts as well as some great talks by leading international architects. The focus of the festival will be on animating the city centre, between John Roberts Square and the newly located Department of Architecture from Waterford Institute of Technology in the Granary building on the Quays.

Thursday 26th April
The RIAI Irish Architecture Awards exhibition will be formally opened in the new home of WIT’s Department of Architecture, the Granary Building on Hanover St. Following the opening, the acclaimed architect and artist, Jack O’Hare will be interviewed by in Garter Lane Theatre. An architect of considerable accomplishment, Jack worked with one of the profession’s colossuses of the age, Frank Lloyd Wright from 1948-1949.

Friday 27 April
The launch of ‘Architecture Day’ at The Granary, with international keynote speakers, presentations and film screenings, presentation of student projects and student exhibition as well as an exhibition opening in John Roberts Square, displaying Waterford City’s plans for the new Viking Triangle and Medieval Museum. Friday evening in Garter Lane marks a collaboration between the Festival of Architecture and Waterford New Music Week. Two silent movies will be screened; “A propos de Nice” is a study of Nice, and “Que rien les heures” is a celebration of the architecture of Paris. Dr. Richard Hayes will introduce both films, and they will be accompanied by an improvised music score conducted by students in the Music Dept. of the WIT.

Saturday, 28 April
There will be a ‘Pen and Ink’ Workshop, and The Singing Architects in Christchurch Cathedral, as well as exhibitions again on John Roberts Square, and an Architectural Scavenger Hunt in the city centre, organized by the architectural students. There will also be an open day for all interested students and their parents who wish to find out more about studying architecture or architectural technology at WIT. Students of architecture will have exhibitions for the duration of the festival in all WIT campuses and in the City library.

Sunday 29 April
Family Day will see more exhibitions and workshops by Calmast on John Roberts Square, as well as an Architectural Detective Trail throughout Waterford. There will also be a chance to visit the construction site of the almost completed medieval museum in the Viking Triangle. And last but not least, there is a ceremonial wreath laying on John Robert’s grave in Greyfriars.

The full programme is available from the WFA Website.