Innovators, ground-breakers, and inspirational leaders in politics, architecture, design, cultural production, and research whose work engages and negotiates the local impacts of challenging global issues of climate, leadership, housing, and displacement inform this season of the international public lecture series New Now Next, presented by the Irish Architecture Foundation and supported by Arup.

Taking the position that the only way to imagine a future is to admit that the time for action is now, the exciting line-up includes former directly-elected Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees; cultural leader, urban planner, and philosopher Marion Waller; award winning Paris-Olympic building architect Nicolas Guérin of NP2F – architectes; celebrated visionary Sámi architect and artist Joar Nango; and the 2024 Harvard GSD Wheelwright awardee, Thandi Loewenson. 

As this island considers and confronts the value of directly-elected Mayors, the care and culture of our cities, questions of indigenous identity, and the erasure of our collective built heritage, this year New Now Next has more relevance to public audiences in Ireland than ever before.

In its 12th season, New Now Next is a not-to-be-missed series of informative talks and conversations disseminating new ideas and thinking relevant now and for the future of architecture and society. This season, four in-person talks will take place at venues across Dublin, beginning with former Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees on 7 September.

This season sees Joar Nango presented in Dublin in partnership with the Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures in Galway and a new venue collaboration with TU Dublin, with three of the four events hosted on the new Grangegorman Campus.

Announcing the 2024 line-up, Emmett Scanlon, Director of the IAF, said:

“In putting this year’s season together, I referred to American writer James Baldwin who notes, ‘There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment, the time is always now.’ Now is the moment we must take action in society to confront and work to solve local, national, and global issues. The selection of New Now Next speakers this year is a group who are doing just this, harnessing the imaginative, creative, and social potential of architecture in its broadest sense to understand how we live now, each responding to the world around them in order to envision a better, more just and sustainable world tomorrow. From a conversation on Paris, a city we Irish look toward as a model-city, to a former Mayor who led transformational change in questions of housing provision and inclusion in Bristol, to an architect unearthing and tending to the neglected culture of the indigenous Sámi people, to a ground-breaking researcher who confronts complexities of land ownership and resources with artistic beauty and architectural brilliance, this year’s season will expand all understandings of the power and potential of architecture and the role it can play in our own future here across the entire island of Ireland. New Now Next is the premier place for public facing, critical design-led conversations in Ireland, and the team and I at the IAF are thrilled to be in our 12th series with Arup.”

Commenting on the announcement, Rory McGowan, Arup Fellow, said:

“At Arup, we believe that the power of architecture lies in its ability to shape societies and improve people’s lives. As we enter our 12th season of partnership with the IAF, we remain committed to fostering critical conversations about global challenges and inspiring transformative ideas for the future of cities and citizens. The time for action is indeed now, and we are excited to be part of this journey towards a more resilient and equitable world.”

 

New Now Next 2024 lineup:

 

Saturday 7 September 2024, 18.30

TU Dublin, Grangegorman

Marvin Rees 

Former Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees was first elected in May 2016 and re-elected in May 2021. He is a Yale World Fellow and graduate of Operation Black Vote who has worked and studied in the UK and the US. During his first term, he oversaw the building of almost 9,000 homes, founded a city-owned housing company, and embarked on the largest council house building scheme for over 35 years. With an ambition to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and fairer city, he developed the One City Plan for Bristol and led the city’s response to both climate and ecological emergencies. Rees stepped down as Mayor of Bristol in 2024. Let’s See What Happens: The Last Mayor of Bristol, a new book which chronicles his life, will be published in August 2024.

Book now for New Now Next with Marvin Rees.

 

Saturday 19 October 2024, 18.30

The Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin 7

“When Dublin Met Paris” with Marion Waller (Director, Pavillon de l’Arsenale ) and Nicolas Guérin (NP2F-architectes, Paris) 

Part of Open House Dublin architecture festival 2024

Marion Waller is an urban planner and philosopher by training and is also the Director of Pavillon de l’Arsenal. Between 2014 and 2020, she collaborated with Jean-Louis Missika, the Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of urban planning and architecture, steering the initiation and execution of the call for innovative urban projects “Reinventing Paris.” Beyond her directorial responsibilities, she teaches urban planning at Sciences-Po Paris and École Polytechnique and has published an essay on environmental philosophy, “Artefacts naturels” [Natural Artefacts], which offers insights into the challenges of ecological restoration. She also previously taught environmental ethics at Paris-Est University.

Nicolas Guérin is a French architect born in 1978 in Marseille. He is the co-founder of the architecture and urban planning practice NP2F, established in 2009, with offices in Marseille and Paris. His academic and professional journey is marked by a rich diversity of experiences and contributions in the field of architecture. Nicolas Guérin has played a crucial role in several major projects, including the design of the Adidas Arena at Porte de la Chapelle for the 2024 Olympic Games. NP2F was also the scientific curator of the exhibition “Sports, Portrait of a Metropolis” at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris in 2014. His work particularly explores the relationship between sports and the city, highlighting the importance of sports facilities in the dynamism of metropolises.

Book now for New Now Next: When Dublin Met Paris.

 

Thursday 7 November 2024, 18.30

TU Dublin, Grangegorman

Joar Nango

Joar Nango works with site-specific installations and self-made publications that explore the boundary between architecture, design, and visual art. Sámi, born in 1979 in Áltá, Norway, he lives and works in Tromsø, Norway. His work relates to questions of Indigenous identity, often through investigating contemporary architecture. Joar has explored modern Sámi spaces through the self-published zine Sámi Huksendáidda: the Fanzine, the design project Sámi Shelters, and the mixtape/clothing project Land & Language. He is a founding member of the architecture collective FFB and is currently setting up a network of Sámi architects across Sápmi through the ongoing Indigenous architecture library project Girjegumpi, which was also included in the Nordic Pavilion at The Laboratory of the Future, La Biennale di Venezia, in 2023. Joar Nango in Dublin is presented in partnership with the Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures, an initiative of the Galway Traveller Movement.

Book now for New Now Next with Joar Nango.

 

Saturday 7 December 2024, 18.30

TU Dublin, Grangegorman

Thandi Loewenson 

Thandi Loewenson (b. 1989, Harare) is an architectural designer/researcher who mobilises design, fiction, and performance to stoke embers of emancipatory political thought and fires of collective action, and to feel for the contours of other, possible worlds. Using fiction as a design tool and tactic, and operating in the overlapping realms of the weird, the tender, the earthly, and the airborne, Thandi engages in projects which provoke questioning of the status quo, while working with communities, policy makers, unions, artists, and architects to act on those provocations. In July 2024, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) announced Loewenson as the recipient of the prestigious Wheelwright Prize. The $100,000 grant supports investigative approaches to contemporary architecture, with an emphasis on globally minded research. In 2023 Loewenson was awarded a Special Mention for her participation in The Laboratory of the Future, La Biennale di Venezia.

Book now for New Now Next with Thandi Loewenson.

 

Booking information:

 

All events are free and open to the public. Advance booking is required for all events.

Booking is now open through the links above.

If you have accessibility needs, please contact us at info@architecturefoundation.ie and we will do our very best to facilitate you.

 

Photo of Adidas Arena, courtesy of NP2F-architectes.