On a sunny evening at the end of June, broadcaster Bryan Dobson launched Pivot Points, a beautifully crafted book of thirty essays exploring how we can better understand key moments and movements in architecture and planning and how they have shaped the built environment we live in today.
Our founders, Dr Edward McParland and Nicholas Robinson joined us on this special evening alongside former chairs Professor Alistair Rowan and Michael Webb, contributors, members, and staff past and present. As we reflected on the thirty objects explored in the book, it also gave us an opportunity to think about how lucky we are to have had such passionate, expert, and dedicated supporters to bring this collection together and to ensure its continued survival and relevance.
The scholarship in Pivot Points shows how vital this collection is, not just for the examination of the past but for planning for our future. As Kathleen James-Chakraborty writes in her introduction to the book: “The Archive’s purpose has never been the creation of a historicist architecture, that is new buildings that imitate their predecessors, but instead the appreciation of what has already been accomplished, and the belief that the architecture of the past can continue to inspire the public as well as the architects of new buildings that serve the changing conditions of our own times and those to come.”
The Pivot Points book was designed with real care and attention by Studio Unthink. Reproductions of the drawings and models can be enjoyed in the highest quality alongside a series of essays.
Of course, we could not have achieved this publication or this year’s ambitious programme without the great support of our current chair, Tony Reddy, board members, staff, and many supporters. We are deeply appreciative of you all.
Pivot Points is available to purchase directly from the IAA. The exhibition runs in the IAA Architecture Gallery, 45 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Monday to Friday, 10am -5pm, until the end of March 2027.
A travelling version of the exhibition will visit venues across Ireland from autumn 2026 to spring 2028.
