The Irish Architecture Foundation placed as a finalist in two categories of this year’s Inspiring Future Generations Awards run by the Thornton Education Trust in the UK.

These awards, now in their third year, bring together a new community of practice dedicated to engaging and empowering young people to have a voice in their future. The awards recognise and celebrate excellent projects and programmes and the energy and passion driving individuals and organisations to create opportunities for children and young people to engage in the design process. The Award winners were announced at a ceremony in London last evening, 4 December 2023.

In the Inspiring Future Generations Awards 2023, the IAF placed as a finalist in the categories One-off Activity for Children for Open House Junior and Best International Non-profit Organisation for the IAF as a whole. Being selected as a finalist in both categories is a mark of esteem that acknowledges the high calibre of the IAF’s Learning programme, not only within Ireland but on an international scale.

Commenting on the Awards announcement, Bláithín Quinn, the IAF’s Curator of Learning, said: “The IAF is delighted to announce that we ranked as a finalist in the One-off Activity for Children category of the Thornton Education Trust’s Inspire Future Generations Awards 2023 for our annual Open House Dublin Junior programme, which has been running since 2006. In October 2023, we became the first and only Open House city to run a dedicated weekend of events for children as part of this annual festival of architecture.

“We are also honoured to be a finalist in the Best International Non-profit Organisation category for our work with children and young people year round. We were listed as finalists alongside two inspiring organisations: Center for Architecture (New York, USA) and YEP! Youth Engagement Planning (Ohio, USA). Many congratulations to YEP on their win!”

The awards were announced at a ceremony on Monday 4 December at the Building Centre in London and featured a range of categories that recognise individuals and architecture organisations – from private companies to cultural charities, local authorities, and further and higher education institutions – that create opportunities for young people to engage in the design process of the built environment, learn technical and transferable skills, and have a voice in their future.

This is the second time that the IAF has been recognised by the Thornton Education Trust, as this year’s results follow on from the IAF’s Inspiring Future Generations Award 2021 for “Youth Manifesto! Architecture in a Climate Crisis” in the Informal Learning Activity category. “Youth Manifesto!” was a lockdown mentoring and video project created by the IAF for Open House Worldwide’s online festival in 2020. The video features youth-developed proposals of creative solutions for sustainable design in cities, including environmentally responsive materials, equitable use of space and climate activism.

We congratulate all winners and finalists in this year’s awards for their work to inspire and equip future generations. We are proud to be part of this vibrant and growing international community.

Photo: Young people on a guided Architrek of Trinity College Dublin as part of Open House Junior 2023. Photo by Ste Murray.