
Irish Agricultural Estates
Adaptive Reuse
Year: 2014
Location: Rural Ireland
This project combines the social and physical repercussions of the Celtic Tiger boom and the Irish housing market collapse. Remnants of the construction boom along with the potential to cut Ireland’s food imports in half through agricultural re-education of the population provide a base to radically rethink suburban Irish neighbourhoods. Introducing an agricultural school into a ghost estate creates a new residential/agricultural typology.
Rethinking the organization of the estate and the yard layout provides ample room for orchards, vineyards and berry bushes to be incorporated along with teaching spaces for arborculture, horticulture and hydroculture. The landscape supports dual functions for the residents and the students. For example, the hydroculture area provides growing containers for aquaculture which cleans the water while doubling as decks for access to the natural swimming pool. All landscaping is maintained by the school, while profits from the harvests are split between the school and the residents.