In Ireland, where architecture has long been a modest, landscape-attuned craft, Gehry’s philosophy arrived as both a provocation and an opportunity. Even the Criminal Courts of Justice, austere and monumental, demonstrated a willingness to let public architecture carry symbolic weight. The Irish instinct for architectural modesty reasserted itself, and iconic architecture was deemed too risky, too brash, too incompatible with the national temperament. But today, the refusal of architectural ambition reads more as stagnation than as humility. Ireland could use a little of Gehry’s spirit now, a willingness to build with meaning, in architecture and in all public life.

Source: The Irish Times January 06, 2026 13:49 UTC