London Exhibition: To Not Design Is To Cost The Earth

To Not Design Is To Cost The Earth

This September, the IAF brings an expanded version of our exhibition, To Not Design Is To Cost The Earth, to The Building Centre, London, showcasing the ideas and work of architects working across the island of Ireland to an international audience. Through drawings, photographs and films, the exhibition champions the value of architecture, demonstrating how architects and their design thinking can offer innovative, radical and useful responses to the social, spatial and climate challenges shaping our shared future.

For twenty years, the IAF has borne witness to the transformative impact that excellent design principles, processes and practices deliver for communities across this island. At a time of significant social, spatial and climatic crises so endemic they no longer need naming, this exhibition reminds us that design thinking and action offer no barriers to progress. In fact, and citing the evidence presented on these walls, design and architecture support innovative, radical and useful ways to advance our social and spatial lives on this island and elsewhere.

To Not Design Is To Cost The Earth presents a collection of drawings, photographs and films that captures only a fraction of the diverse work currently carried out by architects in Ireland. From furniture to infrastructure, from our birth to death, from home to school, on the pitch or in the park, the world in which we live together is first shaped and then sustained by design.

Gathering diverse evidence of architectural intelligence and influence in this manner is a collective act of resistance to emerging political narratives that would suggest our development priorities might not benefit from design, will not be made more joyful through aesthetics, or be more useful, accessible and sustainable by regulation and standards.

First shown in Dublin in 2025 and now touring to London, the exhibition is a reminder of the esteem in which Irish architecture and architects are held internationally.

The expanded London edition now includes a selection of films on architecture and place, commissioned by the IAF in recent years. Together, these films, drawings and photographs — featuring work by both public and private sector architects — champion and tell stories of the value of architecture and design in our everyday life. More than this, however, this exhibition presents an opportunity: for architects and publics to recognise that the value of architecture should not only be measured economically.

This exhibition invites audiences to consider that failure to put architecture and design to work to meet the challenges people face today may not necessarily save money, but is likely to cost the earth. 

Panel discussion:

Visitors are welcome to attend a panel discussion with some of the exhibiting architects on 17 September, 6:30pm, chaired by IAF Director and curator Emmett Scanlon.

Funding and Credits:

The presentation of To Not Design Is To Cost the Earth, London is funded by Culture Ireland. The exhibition is further supported by Hawkins/Brown, Allies and Morrison and Níall McLaughlin Architects. The IAF is principally funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Exhibition:

Curated by the IAF, To Not Design Is To Cost The Earth features the work of Allies and Morrison; ALT Design and Construction; Antipas Jones; AP+E with Cluster Cairo; Arigho Larmour Wheeler Architects; BDP; Ben Mullen Architects; Beth Mogey; BothAnd Group; Carson & Crushell Architects; Clancy Moore Architects; Cotter & Naessens Architects; David Leech Architects; Doherty Architects; Donaghy + Dimond Architects; DUA; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Architects Department with A2 Architects; Foley Architects; GAAN Architects; GKMP Architects; Grafton Architects; Gró.Works; Hawkins\Brown; Islander Architects; Ithirlann; Jennifer Speirs, Adrienne Campbell and William Brady; Laura Ferry and Peter O'Grady; LiD Architecture; Mark McMullan; MARMAR; Matthew Kernan, Eunan Deeney and Hannah Wilson; McCullough Mulvin Architects; McGurk Architects; Niall McAleenan Architects; Níall McLaughlin Architects; O’Donnell + Tuomey; Office of Public Works; plattenbaustudio; Rachel Delargy with S McConnell & Sons; Robert Bourke Architects; rubble; Shay Cleary Architects; Studio Idir; t o b Architect; Trestle; tún; and URBAN AGENCY.

Films:

Of Pride and Place, IAF, produced by Areaman Films, 2024. The Space Is the Thing, IAF with Valerie Mulvin, produced by Red Pepper Productions, 2024. Site Specific Series, IAF, produced by Dyehouse Films, 2020-21.

Accessibility at The Building Centre

• Main front door: Level entry to push-button door

• Reception: Low level reception desk without barriers

• Toilets: There are accessible toilets on the ground and lower ground floors

• Assistance animals: You are most welcome to bring along your assistance animals

• Induction loops: There are fixed induction loops in the Seminar Spaces

If you have any specific questions relating to accessibility, please email office@buildingcentre.co.uk.

Exhibition photos: To Not Design Is To Cost The Earth, The Building Centre, London. Photos by IAF.