Hidden Barriers

Teaching Staff
David Coyles, Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Lisa Park, Teaching Fellow
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Studio Tutors: Ivor Hession, Jenny O’Neill

Hidden Barriers 2019/20: 'Architectures of Conflict and Territory’ brings together Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 BA students alongside MArch students to examine the ways in which the ordinary, everyday architecture of Belfast acts in hidden ways that fundamentally impact our daily lives. The departure point for our investigations in 2019/20 is the defensive architecture put in place during The Troubles to deliberately define and segregate the ‘territories’ of Short Strand and the Inner-East. These Belfast-based enquiries then provide the basis for comparative field-work in the Toxteth area of Liverpool, the site of prolonged rioting in 1981 and extensive redevelopment thereafter. The studio looks at the ways in which different forms of divisive architecture have emerged in these contexts in response to these different forms of conflict. It considers how new interventions can be made to re-establish connections and promote neighbourhood cohesion.