Love them or loathe them – a discussion on the iconic chimneys that dominate the Dublin skyline. There is something about this landmark that is distinctively Dublin. A personal account of the impact and significance of the two distinctive red and white chimneys, the Poolbeg Towers by architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Ellen Rowley, architectural historian, Ali Grehan, city architect, Niall McCullough architect and writer, Grainne Shaffrey architect and Fionn McCann architectural photographer. 

Site Specific is a special commission of ten short documentaries by the Irish Architecture Foundation for Open House Dublin 2020.  Dyehouse Films reveal the personalities, processes, complexity, creativity and transformative impact that surround the act of designed space. The protagonists: the site, the architect, the historian, the user, speak directly to the camera, they speak directly to us. Site Specific crosses the city, scales and building types from play parks, social housing, places of worship to a building not yet built. Taken individually, each 5-minute video has something of the condensed power of a short story. As with the best short stories, it is through the intense focus on the particular qualities of a particular space at a particular time, that much larger social and cultural themes are illuminated. Site Specific makes evident architecture’s great central responsibility – the shaping of the spaces that in turn shape society.

Directed & Filmed by Bonnie Dempsey, Camera Tom Comerford, Drone by Aerial.ie. Rerecording Mixer Nikki Moss, Producer Aimie Gavin, Editor David O Sullivan

Special thanks to Dr Ellen Rowley, Ali Grehan, Shelley McNamara, Yvonne Farrell, Grainne Shaffrey, Niall McCullough, ESB Archives, Capital Dock, D-Light Studios, Dublin City Parks, Tony at Aerial.ie, Jenny Stanley DCC, Fionn McCann Photographer, Ollie Carmody, Robert Farrelly, Sophie Dempsey, D&P Camerkit, Film Equipment Hire, Carolyn Walsh, John O’Sullivan, Media Insurance Brokers,  

Produced by Dyehouse Films 2020

Opinions expressed are the contributors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Irish Architecture Foundation or Dyehouse Films.