This thesis challenges current responses to public spaces in Ireland, redefining how public spaces can be occupied and appropriated in both static and transient ways. As Irish cities grow, their needs will change, leaving the city with the responsibility to accommodate for those changes through both temporary and permanent interventions.
The thesis recognizes the heterogeneity of architectural practice as more than the construction of buildings and consciously engages with advocacy as a central responsibility of architects. Through adaptive re-use of vacant Quayside buildings with little new construction, the focus of the thesis is concerned with conceiving of a strategy of how to approach a large open space, and the method of getting there through a process of removal, replacement, and adaptation to create a more responsive environment that is useful to the people who inhabit it, and that can accommodate for the needs of Waterford as they change into the future.
