Housing Unlocked Exhibition (2022)

Housing Unlocked is a call to action, led by the Irish Architecture Foundation and the Housing Agency. It started with an architectural competition seeking proposals for overcoming issues within Ireland’s current planning process and rethinking ways to unlock housing potential in our villages, towns and cities. The identity is functional and accessible, we paired a serif and sans typeface to complement the colour scheme that reflected the ‘form filling’ procedural process that is part of the planning application system. An additional layer of hand-drawn icons was developed to counter the austere identity. The website transitioned from a submission hub, with information about the competition and the jury, to accommodate a journal section, the winners, and eventually the exhibition. 

The final stage of the project culminated in a five-month exhibition held in the Science Gallery, Dublin, showcasing the winning eight architect-led proposals. We were tasked with creating a cohesive design style that would enhance the experience of the audience. A series of intriguing questions were placed on plywood panels throughout the exhibition to knit the diverse exhibits together, providing visitors with a point of entry to the dense and multi-layered content. We created a two-layered social media campaign to highlight the competition at the early stage and subsequently encourage traffic to the physical exhibition. A printed programme accompanied the exhibition to aid navigation and to communicate the 5-month-long series of events.