IT Sligo will be the permanent home for the winning design of the Yeats2015 Architecture Competition.
The ‘Square Moon’ is a creative interpretation of the W.B. Yeats Poem ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’. It was a concept submitted by Shindesignworks, an Anglo-Korean architectural design firm based in London and Daegu, South Korea.
A prototype of the privately commissioned structure ‘Square Moon’ was shared with the community of Sligo for the Yeats Day celebrations on June 13th. It was temporarily installed along the jetty area of Lough Gill to frame the island of Innisfree.
The design is now moving into final fabrication phase and will be placed on the island of Innisfree later this summer before moving to its permanent home at IT Sligo.
‘The Square-Moon design provides a window to Innisfree,” explains Yong-ho Shin of shindesignworks. “During the day, its window or portal-like profile frames the landscape of Innisfree providing a window to the other world and a portal to the world of poetry.”
The Yeats2015 Architecture Competition was devised earlier this year by three lecturers from IT Sligo’s Architecture Department: Bernadette Donohoe, Michael Roulston and Cliona Brady.
The competition formed part of the Yeats2015 year-long programme of cultural and artistic events celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Irish Nobel prize-winning poet William Butler Yeats. 110 submissions from 33 countries were received.
“The worldwide response to IT Sligo’s Yeats Architectural Competition underpins the global appeal of WB Yeats’ famous poem The lake Isle of Innisfree,” said Senator Susan O’Keeffe, Chair of the Yeats2015.
“The Institute is honoured to be the permanent home for this new creative installation,” said Professor Vincent Cunnane, President of IT Sligo. “It’s our hope that its presence on the IT Sligo campus will help foster an enduring connection with Yeats amongst our young student population.” Vincent Cunnane, President IT Sligo
The student category award was won by Zita Fodor, Nóra Ferenczi and Éva Baráth, from Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary. The students travelled from Hungary to attend the recent ‘Midnight’s All A-Glimmer’ event at The Model in Sligo to celebrate their success.
“We welcome this ground-breaking architectural event in the year of Yeats2015,” said Ian Brannigan, CEO and Head of Regional Development at the Western Development Commission (WDC). “The international reach of such a venture amply demonstrates the West of Ireland as a veritable global creative region.’’
A selection of the entries will be on display as part of special exhibition in the Model, Sligo during September and October.
Photo Caption:
The prototype of a privately commissioned structure ‘Square Moon’ devised by Shindesignworks, which was the overall winner of the Yeats2015 Architecture Competition
(Picture courtesy of Sinead Dolan – Loch Bó Films).