Learning from Ghost Estates

Abstract

From 1993 to 2007, Ireland experienced a period of remarkable economic growth, during the so-called Celtic Tiger era, followed by a severe housing and financial crisis, leaving over 2500 unfinished estates scattered around the island. The so-called ghost estates , became the ruins of crisis, reminders and remainders of former years overdevelopment. This thesis investigates the value of the neglected ghost estates. Their typical layout and structure, the way they occupy the landscape, the materials and their age define the new role and character they will inherit. The intention was to convert the derelict Ghost Estates into vital machines for communality. Architecture by its use, adapts to the users, and as it belongs and originates to the society, therefore should evolve corresponding to future needs. The chosen example is a cluster of 10 unfinished structures, that lie close to the twin towns of Ballybofey and Stranorlar and to the forthcoming Atlantic Corridor. Their position leads to the creation of a new subcenter, proposing a new landscape and a more densified future to this area. The proposed function is the one of the Market, a use and a public space that dates back in Irish history, evaluating the former way cities were structured and operate. Assuming that a ruin exists “between the not-yet and the no-longer”, the appropriation of the ghost estates breaks this condition, creating a new future, a function and an architectural language that has to correspond, to interfere and evolve the existing reality.