We have never been more connected, more visible, or more in contact with one another, yet experiences of shared presence have become increasingly difficult to sustain. The problem is not that we lack communication, but that communication has displaced presence. For endless interaction, participation, and self-expression do not necessarily produce community; they may just as easily dissolve it, replacing belonging with performance, contemplation with stimulation, and attention with distraction.

Bringing together work by Níall McLaughlin Architects, Clancy Moore Architects, and Cotter & Naessens Architects, the exhibition explores a shared sensibility in contemporary Irish architecture grounded in restraint, ritual, and atmosphere - elements that hold communities together (Le Chéile ).

Across domestic, civic, and cultural projects, these practices resist the demand for constant interaction, networking, and engagement, and instead cultivate forms of collective presence that exceed language and help shape communities.

Against a culture organized around visibility, activation, and connectivity, the exhibition proposes that architecture today might matter most precisely where communication ends.

About The Exhibitors

Cotter & Naessens Architects are an architecture and design studio based in Cork City since 2001 and founded by Louise Cotter and David Naessens.  Their work is focused on public projects and is informed by design research, through teaching and design competitions, notably dlrLexicon in Dun Laoghaire.

Cotter & Naessens are the curators and designers of Assembly, Ireland’s representation at the 19thArchitecture Exhibition, Biennale di Venezia 2025, currently on tour in Ireland.

Clancy Moore Architects is an architectural practice based in Dublin, Ireland. They enjoy how physical, historical, social, legislative and economic aspects all impinge and shape architecture. They do not seek to impose language top down, but find it in the human and physical contexts of each project.

Andrew Clancy is Professor of Architecture in the Kingston School of Art, and a guest Professor at the Academia di Architettura Mendrisio.Colm Moore was educated in UCD, graduating in 2002. He completed a PhD by Practice with RMIT in 2018.

Níall McLaughlin is an architect whose work spans education, culture, healthcare, religious buildings and housing. He was named Young British Architect of the Year in 1998. In 2016 he was awarded the RIBA Charles Jencks Award for his contribution to architectural theory and practice. In 2020 he received an honorary MBE for services to architecture. His practice has been shortlisted four times for the RIBA Stirling Prize, winning in 2022 for the New Library at Magdalene College Library. In spring 2026 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal. 

About The Exhibition

The exhibition is made in a collaboration between Copenhagen Architecture Forum and Architecture At The Edge. It is part of the Cultúr 2026: Sharing Ireland's Culture  marking Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Cultúr 2026 celebrates the wealth of talent among Irish artists working today. 

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