Ronan Phelan, our Managing Director, took part in a panel discussion organised by the Embassy of Ireland in Denmark while attending the UIA World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen on the theme of ‘Common Space: An Irish-Danish Conversation on Diversity and Inclusivity in Architecture and Design’.

On the evening of Tuesday 24th July, our Managing Director, Ronan Phelan, took part in a panel discussion organised by the Embassy of Ireland in Denmark while attending the UIA World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen. The theme of the discussion was ‘Common Space: An Irish-Danish Conversation on Diversity and Inclusivity in Architecture and Design’.

Ronan spoke about Scott Tallon Walker Architects’ approach to architectural design for diversity and inclusion. Included in this was the impact of the ideals of the New European Bauhaus on design practice, and how being a multidisciplinary, collaborative company working across many sectors positively contributes to our understanding of and ability to overcome design challenges for extremely varied end-users and communities. This is something we see in our practice every day, in how colleagues share learnings from all manner of projects with each other throughout all stages of the design process.

Also discussed at the event was the importance of adaptive reuse both for environmental sustainability and to improve diversity and inclusivity in buildings. As well as being an important contributor to reducing CO2 emissions in the construction sector, it also presents an opportunity to create new spaces which function better for inhabitants within the fabric of these existing buildings, while bringing them in line with current accessibility, energy efficiency, safety, and environmental standards.

The event took place in North Atlantic House on the harbour front, itself a repurposed and renovated 18th century maritime warehouse, now housing gallery spaces and conference facilities.

The panel discussion was preceded by a presentation from Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects, with the panel also featuring Ciarán Cuffe, Green Party MEP, and Svava Riesto, Associate Professor and Leader of the Research Group on Landscape Architecture and Urban History at the University of Copenhagen.

Celebrating another Irish link with Denmark was Tom Watts, Head of Design at Design & Crafts Council Ireland, marking 60 years of the Kilkenny Design Workshops, which resulted from the ‘Scandinavian Report’, with an interesting exhibition spotlighting Irish design.

We thank the Embassy of Ireland in Denmark and Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) for the opportunity to take part in this event, and Dr. Sandra Andrea O'Connell who chaired the discussion.

To learn more about Scott Tallon Walker Architects’ sustainable design approach, visit https://www.stwarchitects.com/what-we-do/sustainab...

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