buildings that follow you…. or vice versa

Whilst in Dublin I visited the wonderful Irish Architectural Archive for the first time.  This lives in a fantastic Georgian house on Merrion Square, right in the centre of Dublin, and is actually one of the main locations where artist Gavin Murphy shot the film I was over to talk about–Something new under the sun–see previous blog,  although no one mentioned that while we were there.  

It was good to meet Archive Director, David Griffin, and Exhibitions Officer Simon Lincoln, and see a small selection of fascinating  drawings and models.     The weirdest part of the experience was seeing the old Heinz Gallery reinstated.   (thus making for a sort of double buildings-showing-up-where-you-least-expect-them experience) This used to be on the ground floor of the RIBA Drawings Collection, when it was at 21 Portman Square (before it moved to the V&A).   I worked there briefly on a Ninian Comper Exhibition with Anthony Symondson (one of my most enjoyable jobs ever) and loved the dark wood and cocoon-like atmosphere of the beautifully constructed fittings , designed by Alan Irvine and originally opened in 1972.  Apparently when the Portman Square lease was up in 2000 it was re-homed–it looked great.