For many rural populations, tourism offers an economic opportunity, but it can also stifle the development of a living place. Rural landscapes, historic towns, and cities, can become “living museums.” The changes that modern life brings can make the image of a place unpalatable.

The focus of this studio is a rural landscape in western Ireland. Central to the ethos is the understanding of the place as an inhabited landscape, a landscape from which and within which people make a livelihood and a life. We propose to move past the landscape as “scenic” to investigate how design can contribute to making these rural areas vital again.

The region, at one of Europe’s most westerly points, has a rugged and heavily indented coastline shaped by the Atlantic Ocean. Poor agricultural land, and a lack of connectedness and opportunity, have historically contributed to extensive depopulation and the west currently depends heavily on tourism for economic opportunity. The Wild Atlantic Way is a structured rebranding of existing roads that follow this exposed coastline along the length of Ireland’s west coast. As the name suggests, the Wild Atlantic Way is exposed to some of the highest wind speeds in Europe. Wind energy is widely regarded as Ireland’s surest path towards energy self-sufficiency. Currently 40% of Ireland’s electricity is generated from wind energy with a goal to achieve 80% from renewable sources by 2030.

Bringing together the often opposing physical and economic forces of tourism and energy production, the studio will create a research station for wind and wave energy and a tourist hub. The studio will visit the west coast of Ireland and travel some of the Wild Atlantic Way.

Patterns of rural development in the west are dispersed with new population loads posing challenges for infrastructure, most significantly and counter-intuitively, for water. We will investigate how to design with no or limited water/sanitation infrastructure and the implications for land use. This studio focuses on building in this landscape and this place. We will begin by reviewing strategies undertaken in other locations around the world. A short introduction project on water will begin the design process.

Student work will be evaluated based on their demonstration of a comprehensive understanding of the various pressures of the project, as well as how their project reinvents the place. A comprehensive understanding and approach to the site is essential. This studio utilizes both landscape architecture and architecture skills.

This studio is supported by the Koji Yanai Innovative Infrastructure Initiative Fund.

Note regarding the Fall 2026 GSD academic calendar: The first day of classes, Wednesday, September 2nd, is held as a MONDAY schedule at the GSD. This studio will meet for the first time on Thursday, September 3rd.