Following a year of studying online listings of one-room properties in the capital, Plattenbau Studio approximated the sizes of 52 rentals before making a full-sized version of one cramped property out of paper.

It’s no secret that Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis. Rising prices means for young people, purchasing their own home is increasingly becoming a pipedream and in a more frightening development, the number of people being made homeless continues to increase.

While we’ve highlighted some of the most uninhabitable properties on the rental market in our ‘Living Hell‘ series, the listings don’t always provide an accurate insight into just how claustrophobic some of the overpriced single rooms are. With that in mind, Plattenbau Studio, an architecture studio built between Berlin and Dublin have pulled the ridiculousness of 52 properties into full focus in their ‘All Mod Cons’ exhibition.

Funded by the Arts Council, the exhibition grew out of a year’s research where they studied two properties a week from August 2019 until August 2020. They used the standard sizes of furniture in the photos provided in the online listings and made 52 architectural drawings of the rooms to construct an “atlas of approximates” in order to get an understanding of just how cramped the rooms were.

Not satisfied with only having drawings as estimates, they went a step further they recreated a full-scale version of a bedsit entirely out of paper. Reconstructing the space exactly how it is in the photos, Plattenbau Studio added paper replicas of their own possessions to highlight in real terms how difficult it is to live in these properties.

Showcasing their work in the IAF, their studies and the large-scale installation are present in the building’s first floor gallery and challenges the accepted minimum standards for housing in Ireland.

Elsewhere, Tom O’Brien and Noreile Breen each have their own respective works on show as part of Momentum that are available to see.

The exhibitions run at the Irish Architecture Foundation at 15 Bachelor’s Walk until August 29 and is open from Wednesday- Sundays from 10.00 – 18.00.

Admission is free, booking is recommended but walk-ins are welcome.

Click here for more info on the Irish Architecture Foundation’s website.

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