Architect Helena Fitzgerald will discuss at the RIAI Annual Conference about the Sustainable Management of the Cultural Landscape.

About Helena Fitzgerald

Helena is a practicing architect based in the foothills of the Blackstairs Mountains, Co. Carlow. Having graduated from UCD in 1993 she completed her Part 3 at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art. She has worked in private practice in Dublin, London and Paris, spending 8 years with BDP in Grenoble and Glasgow. In 2005 she moved home to the Blackstairs and since then has explored the potential and relevance of architectural practice in rural environments.

Observation and study of the dry stone wall landscapes of the Blackstairs Mountains led to an interest in community engagement in the management of cultural landscape. In 2014 she completed the LANDLIFE International Introductory Course To Land Stewardship, was instrumental in forming the Blackstairs Farming Group and became its inaugural chair. Most recently, engaged as a consultant by the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism, Helena managed the development of a locally-led agri-environment project in the Blackstairs uplands using a transdisciplinary approach.  In addition to landscape stewardship, her practice specialises in passive house design and building conservation with her work appearing in publications as diverse as Image Interiors & Living, Passive House +, EPA Catchments Newsletter and the Irish Farmers Journal.

The conference will take place over two days – Friday 25 and Saturday 26 November and bring together national and international speakers, taking on the contemporary issues affecting architectural practice. This conference is run in conjunction with the Architecture Expo exhibition.