Vital Interventions: Assemble wins the Turner Prize

Assemble, a collective of London-based 'sort of' architects who design and make urban interventions and community collaborations has won the 2015 Turner Prize, the UK art world's highest accolade, previously won with such iconic conceptual works as Damien Hirst's cow and calf in formaldehyde and Martin Creed's light going on and off. The work that got Assemble nominated is very different: a regeneration project in Liverpool's dilapidated Toxteth neighbourhood, which is inspiring proof of the power of a determined community and enlightened designers. But what does Assemble winning the Turner Prize mean for work of this kind in the future?

Framing Family Life

The last of my 'so long London' posts is my most recent piece for Image Interiors & Living, a house tour in London's Islington, styled by Amanda Cochrane and shot by Tim Young. Read on...

'I'm all about framing moments' says Dublin-born Irenie Cossey as she reaches for a piece of artwork by her youngest daughter, Clara. It is a box frame displaying two dolls that Clara, aged six, made from paper and wool, sitting on a shelf surrounded by other colourful creations. As you look around the room you see a host of other keepsakes and mementos, and soon you realise that throughout this spacious north London home you can find ornaments and gifts, family hand-me-downs and children's artwork. Don't let the white walls and modernist furniture fool you: this is a house that treasures memories and perfectly frames the many moments of family life.

Lasdun in London

Denys Lasdun, born in 1914 and alive until 2001, is my favourite British architect (for now, at least, though I can't think of anyone likely to outdo him any time soon). Sometimes classed as a Brutalist for his big, bold, uncompromising buildings, his work is some of the most notable of the British modern movement and he is one of the most distinguished practitioners in the 20th century. I had never considered his work before moving to London, but his buildings there are some of my favourite in the city, so I thought a post about them would be an apt farewell to my former location before moving on to posting about Denmark.

The Freeborn Exchange

Another 'so long London' post, this one takes a look at a lower key exhibition than all those in the V&A (but nevertheless well worth looking at), The Freeborn Exchange at Chelsea College of Arts back in April. Gavin Freeborn is a London-based Irish photographer I met while we were both working at the University of the Arts London. He mounted an exhibition and pop-up photography studio at Chelsea, one of UAL's campuses, showing a host of his portraits exchanged in return for objects, experiences, skills and hospitality all over the world. Complementing Freeborn's portraits was a room filled with work by UAL staff and students which touched on travel and exchange, while you could propose your own exchange for a Freeborn portrait in the show's pop-up studio.

Design, Museums and Society

Studying Curating Contemporary Design and working in the V&A meant I spent a lot of time over the past year thinking about what the V&A's cool dude Contemporary team have been up to. I think they've been doing more interesting stuff than anyone else in the design museum world lately, and here's an abridged version of an essay I wrote about whether or not I think they're being successful in their quest to renew the V&A's position as a public institution and design's position as an agent of change in society. This is the first of a few 'so long London' posts before I start sharing my Danish exploits, so read on and enjoy!

Here's the Heads Up: LFA Edition

The London Festival of Architecture returns for the month of June, exploring the theme 'Work in Progress'. I've already been making my way to a few events, exhibitions and parties, and here are my picks for the remainder of the festival. Enjoy!

London Degree Shows 2015

Welcome to the 2015 degree show season! Here I Like Local brings you a regularly updated list of London art, design and architecture shows so that those of you based in or near the UK capital can find the best new cool dudes in town. I will be updating this list as I get more information on shows so check back often to find out what's opening when and where. Irish readers, I will have your list up SOON. Enjoy!

Here's the Heads Up #26: London Edition

For those of you based in or near London (or planning a trip soon) here are a few choice design and architecture events to enjoy, grouped based whether they're events happening soon, exhibitions soon to close or exhibitions just opened. For those of you in Ireland, hang on until next week when I have something great planned for you...

Contemporary V&A

The second of two recent essay hand-ins, this one takes a look at the contemporary programme at the Victoria & Albert Museum, focussing in on its offering of temporary exhibitions and events that present contemporary art and design. I think that the V&A's contemporary programme is great and its content is really well curated, but for me that's not the whole story. The V&A contemporary programme's success lies as much in its content as it does in its timing, placement and price. The contemporary programme is as accessible as it is well curated, and that's what makes it so good...

Designing Disruption / Disruptive Design

I've recently handed in two essays for my masters, and here's a shortened version of one of them. I decided to take a look at two quite different exhibitions in London - the just closed Disobedient Objects at the V&A and Designers in Residence 2014 at the Design Museum - to compare how each revealed the relationship between design and disruption, in ways not always intended.

Here's the Heads Up #25

DO DESIGN THINGS! NOW!! Here you go, the latest Heads Up about design and architecture events and exhibitions both at home in Ireland and here in London. As usual, these are things happening now, soon, or finishing imminently, so get your skates on...

Edible Future

The first hand-in I've had for my Curating MA was a group project to curate a hypothetical exhibition for the British Council, tying in with their Maker Library Network. If you haven't come across one, a Maker Library provides designers - and sometimes members of the public - a space in which to make things, often by digital means, while complimenting this make space with a library of resources and an exhibition space that explores making and made work. My classmates and I were charged with curating a pop-up Maker Library which would explore making in a hands-on way, show the work of British designers and makers and select relevant publications for the accompanying library space.

Christmas Gift Guide...ish

I had thought of doing this last year, then life (or laziness) conspired against me and it didn't happen. So I thought I'd make an extra effort to get in gear this Christmas season and started doing some research into things for you and me to buy for him, her, them and everyone else... But then I thought that there are probably plenty of blogs and magazines and online shops listing gifts for different categories of people and presents at various price points, and would I be able to contribute much to the 'BUY THESE OBJECTS NOW!' conversation? I'm not so sure, so here's something slightly different:

Here's the Heads Up #24

'Tis the season to shop, eat, drink, be merry and shop. If you need a reprive from any and all of those, here are some cultural palette cleansers in Ireland and London worth catching before the end of 2014...

Here's the Heads Up #23

Here's the latest Heads Up on exhibitions and designy deadlines in Ireland and London. The emphasis is on what's coming up or ending soon to serve as a reminder - to me as much as to you guys - to catch things while we can...

Central Saint Martins

Up until about a month ago I worked in the Students' Union at the University of the Arts London (UAL), which is a relatively recent bringing-together of six of London's top art schools. UAL has a host of campuses all over the city, designed in different eras or repurposed in different ways. While I wasn't based there all the time, one of my favourite sites within UAL's impressive portfolio is the recently completed Central Saint Martins campus in King's Cross. Designed by Stanton Williams Architects, it's the anchor in the ongoing redevelopment of the King's Cross area by developers Argent and it opened its doors to 5,000 students in 2011.

LDF 2014

London Design Festival returned from 13 - 21 September, with heaps of exhibitions, trade shows and events all over the city. I excitedly began attending talks, launches and happenings and really enjoyed the more curated or discursive aspects of the festival. But by the time I reached my third trade show, my energy - and patience - began to wane. There were a whole host of great new products launched, and then A LOT more that weren't great at all. And while different but not great is one thing, when I saw product after product after product all looking the same... sigh. BUT there was some cool stuff on display, so I thought I'd take the four main recurring themes I noticed and show you my favourite versions of them (or antidotes to them). Behold:

Social House London

Though not my intention at the outset, my first ever Open House London experience last weekend saw me visiting, among other sites, a number of social housing schemes, giving me a little more insight into the work done by London authorities to house thousands of families in the 60s and 70s. While definitely not exhaustive, I got a sense of high-rise in Elephant & Castle, low-rise in Tulse Hill and a mixture of the two in the most high-density development of the three in World's End, Chelsea. Each tour was a fantastic insight not only into the design and intentions behind each development, but the daily life of each scheme, as each tour was led by residents. Britain has an amazing stock of post-war housing, but it's very much a depleting stock: I recommend opportunities such as Open House to see them while you still can, while books such as Concretopia by John Grindrod and A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain by Owen Hatherley give good insight into the rise and fall of postwar socially-minded architecture here in the UK.

Back to School

Next week I start a masters (in Curating Design - hooray!) so this week I'm combining visiting London Design Festival with back to school shopping. Already I've managed to stock up on a few things so once I finally buy a school bag I'll have plenty to put in it :)

The Coolest Charity Shop

While visiting Ealing as part of my History of Architecture course we came across Mary's Living and Giving, one of the coolest charity shops I've EVER SEEN. Charity shops in west London can often be pretty great, as west London's full of rich people who buy high quality things and then get rid of them soon after (a complete and utter generalisation I know, but you do stand to find some top notch stuff this side of the city...). But Mary's Living and Giving goes a step further by employing clever design to present their amazing stock to great effect. RCA interior design students Naomi Grieve and Flett Bertram used swathes of coloured fabric, plumbing pipes and filament bulbs to create a unique and inviting space, giving the shop a trendy boutiquey feel. It's unlike any other charity shop I've been to and it's well worth a visit if you find yourself on that end of the Central line...