Ideas From a Living Room – Housing Unlocked Publication (2023)

Housing Unlocked was 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. We were tasked with creating a cohesive design approach for the diverse outputs, from initial social campaign, to competition website, the exhibition and finally the printed publication. 

The book sought to communicate the breadth of activity and discussions which took place over the entire project’s lifespan, rather than simply a catalogue to accompany the five-month exhibition in the Science Gallery, Dublin. We worked closely with the IAF team to develop the sequencing for the book, ensuring a mix of text and image throughout would keep a diverse audience engaged. We also worked closely with PlusPrint to establish a cost-effective specification which didn’t compromise on quality.

Rather than chose a single image to represent the project, a selection of the winning entries were placed asymmetrically on the cover, capturing the breadth of solutions proposed, with the semi-opaque digital white title revealing elements of the imagery beneath. The materials were inspired by triplicate papers and the tones of the timber used in the exhibition, colour-coded stock helped establish clear sections and distinguish detailed project case studies from essays and simpler documentary content.  

A blend of sans (Matter) and serif (Times Now) types were used throughout, playing with scale and layering to create moments of pause during the flow of information. Images were housed within rounded frames, which echo the routed timber exhibition panels.