Marc Ó Riain is the president emeritus of the Institute of Designers in Ireland, a founding editor of Iterations design research journal and practice review, a former director of Irish Design 2015, a board member of the new Design Enterprise Skillsnet and has completed a PhD in low energy building retrofit, realising Ireland’s first commercial nZEB retrofit in 2013.
Double talk: a brief history of insulated glazing
In his latest column on the history of low energy building in the 20th century, Dr Marc Ó Riain charts the surprisingly fascinating history of double glazing.
The utopian Usonian
Dr Marc Ó Riain looks at the influence of 20th century architectural giant Frank Lloyd Wright on low energy building design.
The House of Tomorrow, 1933
In his third column on visionary eco-buildings of the 20th century, Dr Marc Ó Riain looks at the pioneering passive solar designs of Fred Keck.
1948: The Dover Sun House
In his second column on visionary eco-buildings of the 20th century, Dr Marc Ó Riain looks at the Dover Sun House, which used a pioneering salt solution to capture and store solar energy
A brave new world: Oil and architecture
Innovations in low energy building were spurred in the 20th century by oil crises, but the political impetus for meaningful change receded once the crises ended, explains Dr Marc Ó Riain, bringing an attendant failure to set meaningful building regulations.
Time to move beyond the architecture of the oil age
We must discard the architectural baggage of the 20th century to solve 21st century problems – argues our columnist Marc Ó Riain – and relearn some lessons from before the advent of oil.