2025 Programme, Online event, Placemaking, Talk, Tours
New Life, Old Buildings 2025
11.09.25-24.10.25
16.08.25-28.09.25
Bog Bothy is a touring collection of new work, built outcomes, and ambitious proposals toward a new peatlands architecture, presented by the Irish Architecture Foundation and 12th Field.
Having launched at the Bog Trotters Festival in Clara, Offaly in June, Bog Bothy is touring to Girley Bog, Meath during National Heritage Week in August. Bog Bothy consists of…
Bothy: A purpose-built shelter and gathering space for deep engagement with the bog that builds on the design language of Ireland’s peatlands. The Bothy structure has been co-created with communities in Offaly, Louth, and Meath and designed by architects Evelyn D’Arcy and David Jameson of 12th Field.
Events Programme, 16-17 August (see below): Peatlands panel talks, walks, workshops, and performances across climate action, architecture, and future heritage. All events are free but places must be booked in advance.
Exhibition: A curated exploration of labour, trace, and climate in the boglands – exploring the bog as both a historical archive and a future landscape, including photographs by Shane Hynan and drawings by 12th Field.
The main exhibition is outdoors at the Bothy. Further drawings and a video about Bog Bothy are on display at Kells Courthouse Tourism and Cultural Hub until 28 August. The video was produced by Luke Brabazon (Light Jar).
Artist in Residence: New work by multidisciplinary performance maker Luke Casserly, which responds to the peatlands, its people, and the Bog Bothy project through deep engagement.
After the launch weekend, the Bothy can be booked for daytime use until 28 September. Please email info@architecturefoundation.ie for enquiries. The outdoor exhibition also remains on display.
The Bog Bothy project is a Creative Climate Action II – Agents for Change project, funded by Creative Ireland. The Bog Bothy tour, exhibition, and events programme are additionally funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Offaly County Council, Meath County Council, and The Heritage Council. IAF is principally funded by the Arts Council. It is additionally funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the auspices of the National Built Heritage Services, the Office of Public Works, and Dublin City Council.
All events will take place at the Bog Bothy, Girley Bog, County Meath, 53°40’36.3″N 6°55’24.3″W. Please remember to book your place.
11:00 – 11:30 Bog Bothy Launch and Tea Ceremony
Join us to mark the opening of Bog Bothy on Girley Bog with a small gathering, speeches, and bog tea ceremony. You are invited to arrive, settle, and share in a moment of reflection as we look forward to our programme on Girley Bog on the occasion of National Heritage Week. The tea ceremony will be followed by a guided tour of the Bothy by its designers, architects David Jameson and Evelyn D’Arcy of 12th Field.
11:30 – 12:30 Guided Bothy Tour with 12th Field
Join the designers of the Bothy, 12th Field, for a guided tour and conversation exploring the origins of Bog Bothy, the architectural design of the Bothy, and the ideas that shaped it. Hear how the structure responds to the peatlands landscape through a community co-design approach, and engage with the accompanying research and exhibition situated in the field.
This is a chance to reflect on architecture and placemaking as tools for climate action, collective care, and imagining site-specific futures.
13:30 – 15:00 Novel Ecologies Workshop with Fiona Nulty and Helen Flanagan
Join artist Helen Flanagan and architect-ecologist Fiona Nulty for a participatory workshop exploring the bog and its surroundings as built, living, and evolving landscapes.
This workshop asks us to examine our relationship with the bog, its habitats and species through drawing on ideas of ‘novel ecologies’ (ecosystems shaped by human intervention) and ‘deep mapping’ methods.
This session is an opportunity to collectively consider how spatial and artistic practices can help us better understand and engage with the past, present, and future of these entangled landscapes.
15:15 – 17:00 What A Bog Remembers Workshop with Luke Casserly
Bogs are deep archives – layered places where time moves differently. They hold traces of what has passed through. They remember through compression, stillness, what has been preserved, and what is slowly let go.
In this interactive workshop, artist in residence Luke Casserly invites you to imagine: what might happen if a bog were human – or if a human were a bog? Expect gentle walking, creative writing, and maybe even a conversation with a local lizard along the way.
This workshop is an opportunity to engage with Luke as he tests, shares, and invites participation in aspects of his creative process. The workshop will inform his final output from the Bog Bothy project.
17:30 – 19:00 An Evening with Friends of Ardee Bog
Join Friends of Ardee Bog at the Bothy for an evening of refreshments, games, and folk theatre inspired by the irreverent, and sometimes a little mad, social culture of Ardee Bog.
Friends of Ardee Bog will invite guests to take part in a ‘fairy’ planning-permission site inspection and compete in some games inspired by Ardee Bog’s traditional Coole Sports Day before settling down with some harvest-season hedgerow potions for a presentation of the Ardee Bog Mummers play, ‘The Turf Man, the Devil and the Ditch Hag’.
7:00 – 8:30 Moth Trapping Workshop
Join local moth expert Timothy Sullivan for a morning ecology session exploring specimens trapped overnight. This early morning workshop offers a close-up look at the rich diversity of moths that inhabit Irish boglands, highlighting their role as indicators of environmental change. Timothy will guide participants through identification techniques, share stories from Girley, and offer insights into the ecological importance of these often-overlooked pollinators.
11:00 – 12:30 Bog Bothy Tour with 12th Field
Join the designers of the Bothy, 12th Field, for a guided tour and conversation exploring the origins of Bog Bothy, the architectural design of the Bothy, and the ideas that shaped it. Hear how the structure responds to the peatland landscape through a community co-design approach, and engage with the accompanying research and exhibition situated in the field.
This is a chance to reflect on architecture and placemaking as tools for climate action, collective care, and imagining site-specific futures.
13:00-15:00 Bog Lab and Zine Workshop with Elena Aitova & Kate Flood
In this hands-on workshop, we’ll uncover the hidden layers of time tucked beneath the bog’s surface. We will become bog scientists for the afternoon, exploring water levels and the carbon-rich peat below our feet. Together, we’ll investigate how peat, water, and plants are all deeply connected, and how this unique relationship makes bogs one of Ireland’s climate change heroes.
In the second part of the workshop, we’ll take what we’ve discovered and get creative. We will discuss the origin of zines or ‘fanzines’ and learn the basics of zine-making, experimenting with formats, images and text. You will be invited to create a zine based on the landscape, plants, or features of the bog that inspire you. All materials and tools will be provided, but if you have any bog-related ephemera, photos or stories, bring them along.
All events in the programme are free, but booking is required. Please make sure to book a spot for each event you plan to attend.
Please note, we are charging a no-show fee of €5.00. If you will not be able to attend, please cancel your booking in advance and your card will not be charged.
Location: Kells Courthouse Tourism and Cultural Hub, Headfort Rd Kells, Co. Meath A82 RY62
Opening hours:
The Bog Bothy exhibition is on display until Friday 29 August.
Location: The Bog Bothy, Girley Bog, County Meath, 53°40’36.3″N 6°55’24.3″W
If you are taking public transport, the nearest location is Kells, County Meath.
There will be a shuttle bus running between Kells and the Bog Bothy at the beginning and end of each day. Book the Saturday shuttle. Book the Sunday shuttle.
From Dublin:
Accommodation in Girley is limited, but hotels, B&Bs, and self-catered accommodation are available in Kells.
If you have any accessibility needs please let us know prior to the event and we will make every effort to make suitable accommodations for you. Email katie.fitzgerald@architecturefoundation.ie or phone us on +353 1 874 7200.
ISL interpretation can be arranged on request.
Toilets:
There will be an accessible portaloo on the Bothy site.
Alternatively, there is a toilet in Top Oil Cloncat Service Station (3km away).
Transport:
The shuttle bus between the venues is not wheelchair accessible.
It is a 3-minute walk (200m) from the temporary Parking Field to the Bothy site.
It is a 10-minute drive (7.5km) from Kells to the Bothy Parking Field.
Venue and Safety Warning:
The Bothy is in a field with uneven ground and may be difficult to access for those with limited mobility. Please make sure to wear proper, sturdy footwear.
Events taking place in the Bothy Field are outdoors and subject to weather. Be prepared for the changeable Irish weather.
Limited seating will be available for those who require it on the Bothy Field.
If you have any questions not answered here, please email info@architecturefoundation.ie or call us at +353 1 874 7200.
Photograph by Brendan Keogh.
Evelyn D’Arcy is an architect and educator, and co-founder of 12th Field. In parallel with her work in practice as an architect since graduating from UCD in 2005, Evelyn has worked as a creative practitioner with various organisations including the Irish Architecture Foundation, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, and the schools of Architecture at UCD and TU Dublin. She has facilitated a wide range of projects exploring themes of architecture with people of all ages, in community and in educational settings. Her work comes about through exchange of stories, studying local history, ecology and architecture and in gathering site-specific inspiration, to help people build a stronger connection with their world.
12th Field is a collaborative practice between architects Evelyn D’Arcy and David Jameson. Their work explores ways that architecture can support our relationship with landscape, by creating new rituals and traditions, remembering social histories, and including local communities as co-creators in the process. Their current area of research documents and classifies the physical nature of human engagement with the bog, and how that might be transformed to support future engagement.
David Jameson is an architect and one half of 12th Field. David studied in TU Dublin before working in Dublin, Paris and Stockholm. In 2015 he co-founded tun – architecture + design. tun specialise in new educational spaces and have won national architectural awards for their recently completed school on Harcourt Terrace in Dublin. David is a design tutor in the School of Architecture, TU Dublin. Through his work in 12th Field David has extensively documented the vernacular architecture of the peatlands. His article on this subject, ‘The Built Bog’ was recently published in type.ie.
12th Field is a collaborative practice between architects Evelyn D’Arcy and David Jameson. Their work explores ways that architecture can support our relationship with landscape, by creating new rituals and traditions, remembering social histories, and including local communities as co-creators in the process. Their current area of research documents and classifies the physical nature of human engagement with the bog, and how that might be transformed to support future engagement.
Fiona is co-founder of BioSense and has completed a Masters by research studying biodiversity in the context of design, planning, and policy at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to BioSense, Fiona worked as a part III registered architect for over ten years, delivering both commercial and residential projects. Fiona brings a unique perspective to BioSense, combining ecological knowledge with first-hand, detailed experience of the design, planning, and construction processes.
Helen Flanagan is a socially engaged artist and writer from Ardee and a long-term member of Friends of Ardee Bog (FAB). FAB is a community group whose mission is to preserve, protect and promote Ardee Bog, which is Ireland’s most easterly raised bog. The group formed to advocate against a planned road development which threatens the bog, and in the past five years has grown into a diverse group working around conservation, ecological restoration, community education, the arts and culture, and local history.
Luke Casserly is a multidisciplinary performance maker from Longford. His work weaves together ecological research, autobiography, sound art, and place as a way of carving out space for new possibilities to emerge between live performance and physical landscapes. His projects have brought audiences through city streets, back gardens, train stations, beaches, and a bog in the Irish Midlands which have led to the creation of a network of wildflower meadows across Ireland (1000 Miniature Meadows, 2020-23), the planting of 1000 indigenous trees (Root, 2021), and the development of an organic perfume made using botanicals from the Irish bog (Distillation, 2023). Luke is a recipient of the Arts Council’s Next Generation Award and was selected for the Norman Houston Multidisciplinary Commissioning Award with Solas Nua (Washington, DC), as well as the International Forum at Theatertreffen (Berlin Festspiele). In 2024, he was appointed as a Biodiversity Artist in Residence with Dublin City Council. He holds a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies (Trinity College Dublin) and a Certificate in Art and Ecological Practice (NCAD).
Friends of Ardee Bog is a community group from Co. Louth whose mission is to preserve, protect and promote Ireland’s most easterly raised bog. In the past five years, the group has expanded and works around conservation, ecological restoration, community education, and history as well as arts and cultural activities which emphasise collaborative making, participatory magic and play.
Timothy Sullivan is a young biodiversity advocate and lifelong bog enthusiast based in County Meath. A self-taught naturalist and moth expert, Tim has been visiting Girley Bog since childhood, witnessing first-hand the decline in biodiversity across Ireland’s peatlands. Tim is an active community member of Girley Bog and speaks passionately about the need to live as part of nature, not apart from it.
Elena Aitova is a researcher specialising in carbon dynamics in peatlands. She’s currently doing her PhD at the University of Galway, alongside her work with RPS on NPWS sites, where she measures greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from bogs. Elena is actively engaged in community outreach and led a range of public workshops on GHGs and environmental monitoring, helping to make complex science more accessible to wider audiences.
Kate Flood is a peatland researcher and community volunteer working at the intersection of social science, ecology, and the arts to explore the relationships and interconnections between people and peatlands. Her current work examines the cultural, social, medicinal, and ecological histories and uses of plants and of the bog itself through the Bog Cabinet of Curiosities, developed as part of the Gnáthóga Nádúrtha project collective.
11.09.25-24.10.25
03.07.25