The news announced yesterday that Murray O’Laoire, one of Irelands most prominent architectural practices, had gone into liquidation was perhaps not entirely unexpected in the extreme recessionary climate currently devastating the once buoyant construction industry in Ireland. Nevertheless it came as a severe shock because that practice represented the best and most dynamic face of modern architectural practice in Ireland, winning prizes both here and abroad for the quality of their work. This work embraced not only the optimisation of green technology as in the totemic ‘Green’ Apartment Building in Dublin but also artistic and technical flair as in the Music School in Cork or indeed in the spectacular reinvention of Thomond Park as the home for Munster rugby in Limerick. The reasons given for the demise of the practice, which had branches in many countries from Dubai to Russia, was the impact of bad debts, difficult market conditions and problems in getting paid.
All practicing architects, including this writer, can sympathise with their dilemma in the current recession as it is estimated that over 50% of architects employed only two years ago are now unemployed and the situation is likely to get even worse before there is any significant improvement. In an article in yesterdays Irish Times, Martin Murphy, Director of Hewlett-Packard, Ireland asked that we stop infighting now and focus on leadership to get us out of our recession. Mr Murphy further warns on the precarious state of our economy by using the analogy of a glass half full to illustrate our country’s dilemma.
He later states that ‘there are no entitlements to opportunity, but it can be earned’. The sad thing about the present status of the Murray O’Leary practice is that they sought no entitlement as a basis for their undoubted success but rather by stint of the excellence of their work and quality of their staff they forged opportunities for themselves both here and abroad and in so doing provided leadership and inspiration to other Irish practices both large and small. I would agree with Mr Murphy, that there is no point in being negative and simply fanning the flames of a bitter dialogue over supposed corporate greed and bank bail-outs in the context of the acute sense of grievance felt by many tax payers. However, I feel that leadership can only flourish if there is genuine feeling of hope in the future and a sense that the ‘gain will justify the strain’ as it were.
In Irish society at the moment, the foundations on which to build this leadership structure seem very suspect, and as any architect will testify to, poor foundations augur badly for future stability. I personally feel that the poor in our society are becoming increasingly marginalised and frustrated by the direction of government cut backs. Furthermore, there would appear to be little appreciation of the value as opposed to the cost of the contribution made to this society by its well educated work force, especially the young. Finally, even core business activities for both small and medium sized firms are being starved of bank cash support. Furthermore, there has been an exponential increase in red tape and regulative activity by government agencies presumably to keep them busy during the recession.
Thus, the demise of the Murray O’Laoire architectural practice is systematic of the waste and lack of appreciation of talented and creative people and with the governments new emphasis on the merits of the supposed smart economy is , I feel, neither really smart nor genuinely economic.
In ending this little discourse by way of genuine appreciation of the sense of disappointment and disillusion that must permeate the Murray O’Laoire practice this morning, may I refer to what I feel is an adapt quote received on my twitter page this morning from philo_quotes, courtesy of Spinoza:
‘All noble things are as difficult as they are rare’
All practicing architects, including this writer, can sympathise with their dilemma in the current recession as it is estimated that over 50% of architects employed only two years ago are now unemployed and the situation is likely to get even worse before there is any significant improvement. In an article in yesterdays Irish Times, Martin Murphy, Director of Hewlett-Packard, Ireland asked that we stop infighting now and focus on leadership to get us out of our recession. Mr Murphy further warns on the precarious state of our economy by using the analogy of a glass half full to illustrate our country’s dilemma.
He later states that ‘there are no entitlements to opportunity, but it can be earned’. The sad thing about the present status of the Murray O’Leary practice is that they sought no entitlement as a basis for their undoubted success but rather by stint of the excellence of their work and quality of their staff they forged opportunities for themselves both here and abroad and in so doing provided leadership and inspiration to other Irish practices both large and small. I would agree with Mr Murphy, that there is no point in being negative and simply fanning the flames of a bitter dialogue over supposed corporate greed and bank bail-outs in the context of the acute sense of grievance felt by many tax payers. However, I feel that leadership can only flourish if there is genuine feeling of hope in the future and a sense that the ‘gain will justify the strain’ as it were.
In Irish society at the moment, the foundations on which to build this leadership structure seem very suspect, and as any architect will testify to, poor foundations augur badly for future stability. I personally feel that the poor in our society are becoming increasingly marginalised and frustrated by the direction of government cut backs. Furthermore, there would appear to be little appreciation of the value as opposed to the cost of the contribution made to this society by its well educated work force, especially the young. Finally, even core business activities for both small and medium sized firms are being starved of bank cash support. Furthermore, there has been an exponential increase in red tape and regulative activity by government agencies presumably to keep them busy during the recession.
Thus, the demise of the Murray O’Laoire architectural practice is systematic of the waste and lack of appreciation of talented and creative people and with the governments new emphasis on the merits of the supposed smart economy is , I feel, neither really smart nor genuinely economic.
In ending this little discourse by way of genuine appreciation of the sense of disappointment and disillusion that must permeate the Murray O’Laoire practice this morning, may I refer to what I feel is an adapt quote received on my twitter page this morning from philo_quotes, courtesy of Spinoza:
‘All noble things are as difficult as they are rare’
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