32. Soil Lab

What Buildings Do: An architecture podcast.

In the podcast Emmett Scanlon talks to James Albert Martin and Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh, who together with Anne Dorthe Vester and Maria Bruun are Soil Lab. In September 2021, Soil Lab unveiled their installation on a vacant lot in Chicago as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

In the podcast the pair discuss the project from the initial idea which, after an open call from the Danish Arts Foundation, was to make a housing for a ceramic kiln on the site, and all the way through to the opening. They share the obvious logistic challenges of making a project like this from Denmark and Ireland and in America, especially during a pandemic. However, challenging as it was, it is clear the team remain enthused, emboldened and engaged with and by the work and all that unfolded day by day across the project, and in particular how the project was enriched by the participation of residents and others who live and work adjacent to the site. James begins by telling us about the Chicago Architecture Biennial and from their pair talk directly and honestly about what happened, what they learned, and a little about what might be next.

More about the project here: https://www.instagram.com/soillabnorthlawndale

ABOUT SOIL LAB

The Soil Lab project team is made up of three architects, James Albert Martin, Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh, and Anne Dorthe Vester, and one designer, Maria Bruun, working across different scales, materials, and disciplines. James, Eibhlín, and Anne Dorthe studied together at the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark and have since collaborated on several projects. James and Eibhlín are based in Dublin, where they have both worked for internationally renowned architecture firms. Maria and Anne Dorthe are based in Copenhagen, where they founded the studio MBADV in 2013. Their practice with MBADV is at the intersection of architecture, design, and fine art. The project team comes together around a belief in making as a collaborative act: making moments, and making spaces and places for people to gather, to celebrate, and to treasure space.
Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh graduated from the Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark, in 2011. Since graduating she has worked for Atelier Peter Zumthor in Switzerland and Grafton Architects in Dublin, Ireland. In 2018, Eibhlín joined James and Anne Dorte in participating in the REFORM Design Biennale with their collaboration Woven Construct, constructed in the garden of Munkeruphus Center of Contemporary Art, in Zealand, Denmark. Eibhlín believes imagination is the central strength of architecture and is interested in the social act of architecture and design as a collaborative conversation. It is with great pleasure that, together with the people of North Lawndale and the Soil Lab team, she embarks on transforming a vacant lot in West Chicago into a new public space.

James Albert Martin is a registered architect with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and Grade 3 Accredited in Architectural Conservation. He has taught at The Aarhus School of Architecture and at University College Dublin where he is currently a Design Fellow. James is interested in the act of making, and his work is informed by this collaborative act. James holds a MA from The Aarhus School of Architecture and has also undertaken courses in joinery at Capellagården - a school for craft and design. Since graduating he has worked with international studios; Sou Fujimoto Architects, Herzog & de Meuron, and Grafton Architects. In 2018, James, Eibhlín, and Anne Dorte participated in REFORM Design Biennale with their collaboration Woven Construct, a seat, a screen, space, which they constructed in the garden of Munkeruphus, north of Copenhagen.