Skip to main content

Colm Murray

Technological University Dublin, Ireland, TUDublin School of Media, Graduate Student

Followers

39

Following

34

Co-author

1

Public Views

Colm Murray is a PhD researcher at TU Dublin, with degrees in architecture, building conservation, spatial planning and public administration. His current research, ‘Grangegorman Histories, Site and Society, 1770 – 2012’, is on the architectural and social history of a workhouse, prison and psychiatric hospital in a quarter of Dublin. This examines the original meaning of the architecture, and its transformation over time, particularly the symbolic and intentional demolitions – erasures – which occurred in the 1870s and the 1980s as a result of crises of self-confidence in the institutions. Colm was the architecture officer with the Heritage Council in Ireland from 2005-2023. A career-long interest in the process of ascribing value to places, led to a research scholarship at the Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, in Spring 2016. This investigated the philosophical origins of value ascription for heritage, in the context of the issues raised for the conservation of special places in international good practice charters and explored the interrelation between intrinsic and instrumental values used in place conservation. In this research project he explores ‘negative’ values, difficult meanings that reside in this place ‘lest we forget’.
https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7838-1415
Supervisors: Maary Ann Bolger, Niamh Ann Kelly, and Brian Ward

less

Western Sydney University

Jelica Jovanovic

Technische Universität Wien

University College Cork

Thomas Moullier

Yasemin Sarıkaya Levent

Mersin University

Wolfgang Göhner

Thomas Adlercreutz

University College Dublin

Maria Marta Rae

InterestsView All (8)

Uploads

Papers by Colm Murray

Building Conservation Quality Assurance in Ireland

'International quality assurance for work on historic buildings in the whole building process from design to completion', 2014

This paper reviews how quality is assured in practice in the full process of building conservatio... more

The changing Irish town in the twentieth century

Tracings, Vol. 2, 2003

This paper looks at the opportunities opened at the end of the twentieth century for new built he... more

The Irish town, and time, from

Free Market newssheet distributed by Irish Pavilion at Venice Biennale , 2018

I look again, fifty years on, at an Irish town pronounced 'dead'. Towns persist in being useful.

The Irish Town, and Time

Free Market News, 2018

In 1969, Charlestown, Co. Mayo, Ireland, was pronounced 'dead' in John Healy's book. This brief e... more In 1969, Charlestown, Co. Mayo, Ireland, was pronounced 'dead' in John Healy's book. This brief essay looks at the social and economic forces that have impacted on the continuing life of this and other towns almost fifty years after their death certificate was written. It sees time written into towns.

Entreprises et histoire - Industrial Heritage

Using old farm buildings for transmitting vernacular traditions in Ireland

Vernacular Heritage and Earthen Architecture, 2013

This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme,... more This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme, how a State authority could support a vernacular tradition. Irish traditional farm buildings are the cultural expression of ‘the ordinary people’. They were often self-built using available resources, and are considered ‘vernacular’ for this reason. This paper addresses whether state grant aid supports or undermines the autonomy and vitality of a vernacular building tradition and how to address the issues of agency whilst supporting that tradition. It will describe how effort invested in communication between key parties makes vernacular skills transmission possible, and a positive values-changing process.

Gebäude sind immer provisorisch : Medieval Mile Museum, Kilkenny (Irland) von McCullogh Mulvin

The heritage of manufacturing in the ecological age: an Irish perspective

Entreprises Et Histoire, 2017

Le patrimoine de la fabrication a l’âge ecologique : une perspective irlandaiseEn examinant un si... more Le patrimoine de la fabrication a l’âge ecologique : une perspective irlandaiseEn examinant un site du patrimoine industriel irlandais, cet article explore l’application des perspectives environnementales et sociales a l’industrie, la destabilisation des ecosystemes que l’industrie induit et ce que cela pourrait signifier pour la mise en valeur de ses vestiges patrimoniaux. L’article se demande si le discours sur le patrimoine donne suffisamment d’importance aux dynamiques insoutenables declenchees par le capitalisme et le materialisme au cours de la revolution industrielle et a l’existence d’un legs social et environnemental negatif de l’industrie. Dans ce contexte, l’article analyse le texte de la charte de Nizhny Tagil par rapport aux valeurs de preuve, d’identite, de comportement et de societe auxquelles elle fait reference. En conclusion, l’article presente plusieurs autres concepts que le souci du patrimoine industriel devrait prendre en compte, de maniere a asseoir sa valoris...

2017_Murray_Industrial_in_Ireland.pdf

In the first part A of this essay, I explore environmental and social perspectives on industry, i... more In the first part A of this essay, I explore environmental and social perspectives on industry, its destabilisation of ecosystems, and what this might mean for the valuation of its heritage remains, by examining an Irish industrial of site of manufacturing. I question whether the heritage discourse adequately considers the unsustainable dynamics unleashed by capitalism and materialism in the industrial revolution, and the existence of a negative social and environmental legacy of industry. In part B, I analyse the text of the Nizhny Tagil Charter in relation to the evidential, identity, instrumental and social values it encompasses. To conclude, I outline some further concepts that the care of the industrial heritage ought to accommodate, setting its valuation on a more reflective, critical basis.

" Why do we conserve special places? "

There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' ... more There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' of 'familiar and cherished' buildings, places and landscapes. I use these 'meta-categories of value' to create a conceptual framework to map the values people ascribe to them. This disaggregates concepts and motivations along a scale from the concrete, objective properties which places and buildings have, through the terms provided by charters and legislation to articulate values, to the most abstract and all-embracing concepts such as 'society', 'culture', the 'economy'. The map is intended to be used as a tool for recognising power relations and in negotiating stakeholder conflicts about the significance of places.

" Why do we conserve special places? "

There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' ... more There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' of 'familiar and cherished' buildings, places and landscapes. I use these 'meta-categories of value' to create a conceptual framework to map the values people ascribe to them. This disaggregates concepts and motivations along a scale from the concrete, objective properties which places and buildings have, through the terms provided by charters and legislation to articulate values, to the most abstract and all-embracing concepts such as 'society', 'culture', the 'economy'. The map is intended to be used as a tool for recognising power relations and in negotiating stakeholder conflicts about the significance of places.

Using old farm buildings for transmitting vernacular traditions in Ireland

by Anna Meenan and Colm Murray

This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme,... more This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme, how a State authority could support a vernacular tradition. Irish traditional farm buildings are the cultural expression of ‘the ordinary people’. They were often self-built using available resources, and are considered ‘vernacular’ for this reason. This paper addresses whether state grant aid supports or undermines the autonomy and vitality of a vernacular building tradition and how to address the issues of agency whilst supporting that tradition. It will describe how effort invested in communication between key parties makes vernacular skills transmission possible, and a positive values-changing process.

Using old farm buildings for transmitting vernacular traditions in Ireland

by Colm Murray and Anna Meenan

This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme,... more This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme, how a State authority could support a vernacular tradition. Irish traditional farm buildings are the cultural expression of 'the ordinary people'. They were often self-built using available resources, and are considered 'vernacular' for this reason. This paper addresses whether state grant aid supports or undermines the autonomy and vitality of a vernacular building tradition and how to address the issues of agency whilst supporting that tradition. It will describe how effort invested in communication between key parties makes vernacular skills transmission possible, and a positive values-changing process.

Drafts by Colm Murray

Built Heritage Conservation and Ecologically Sustainable Development

The Heritage Council, 2012

The paper explores the contribution that the conservation of the built heritage makes to environm... more The paper explores the contribution that the conservation of the built heritage makes to environmentally sustainable development. 'The most environmentally benign building is the one that need not be built because it already exists'. It considers existing buildings as a material resource of often irreplaceable materials, and as accruing environmental wisdom, often now forgotten, as well as stabilizing the image of places for people. It notes the local and person-based economic benefits of skilled conservation work.

Building Conservation Quality Assurance in Ireland

'International quality assurance for work on historic buildings in the whole building process from design to completion', 2014

This paper reviews how quality is assured in practice in the full process of building conservatio... more

The changing Irish town in the twentieth century

Tracings, Vol. 2, 2003

This paper looks at the opportunities opened at the end of the twentieth century for new built he... more

The Irish town, and time, from

Free Market newssheet distributed by Irish Pavilion at Venice Biennale , 2018

I look again, fifty years on, at an Irish town pronounced 'dead'. Towns persist in being useful.

The Irish Town, and Time

Free Market News, 2018

In 1969, Charlestown, Co. Mayo, Ireland, was pronounced 'dead' in John Healy's book. This brief e... more In 1969, Charlestown, Co. Mayo, Ireland, was pronounced 'dead' in John Healy's book. This brief essay looks at the social and economic forces that have impacted on the continuing life of this and other towns almost fifty years after their death certificate was written. It sees time written into towns.

Entreprises et histoire - Industrial Heritage

Using old farm buildings for transmitting vernacular traditions in Ireland

Vernacular Heritage and Earthen Architecture, 2013

This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme,... more This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme, how a State authority could support a vernacular tradition. Irish traditional farm buildings are the cultural expression of ‘the ordinary people’. They were often self-built using available resources, and are considered ‘vernacular’ for this reason. This paper addresses whether state grant aid supports or undermines the autonomy and vitality of a vernacular building tradition and how to address the issues of agency whilst supporting that tradition. It will describe how effort invested in communication between key parties makes vernacular skills transmission possible, and a positive values-changing process.

Gebäude sind immer provisorisch : Medieval Mile Museum, Kilkenny (Irland) von McCullogh Mulvin

The heritage of manufacturing in the ecological age: an Irish perspective

Entreprises Et Histoire, 2017

Le patrimoine de la fabrication a l’âge ecologique : une perspective irlandaiseEn examinant un si... more Le patrimoine de la fabrication a l’âge ecologique : une perspective irlandaiseEn examinant un site du patrimoine industriel irlandais, cet article explore l’application des perspectives environnementales et sociales a l’industrie, la destabilisation des ecosystemes que l’industrie induit et ce que cela pourrait signifier pour la mise en valeur de ses vestiges patrimoniaux. L’article se demande si le discours sur le patrimoine donne suffisamment d’importance aux dynamiques insoutenables declenchees par le capitalisme et le materialisme au cours de la revolution industrielle et a l’existence d’un legs social et environnemental negatif de l’industrie. Dans ce contexte, l’article analyse le texte de la charte de Nizhny Tagil par rapport aux valeurs de preuve, d’identite, de comportement et de societe auxquelles elle fait reference. En conclusion, l’article presente plusieurs autres concepts que le souci du patrimoine industriel devrait prendre en compte, de maniere a asseoir sa valoris...

2017_Murray_Industrial_in_Ireland.pdf

In the first part A of this essay, I explore environmental and social perspectives on industry, i... more In the first part A of this essay, I explore environmental and social perspectives on industry, its destabilisation of ecosystems, and what this might mean for the valuation of its heritage remains, by examining an Irish industrial of site of manufacturing. I question whether the heritage discourse adequately considers the unsustainable dynamics unleashed by capitalism and materialism in the industrial revolution, and the existence of a negative social and environmental legacy of industry. In part B, I analyse the text of the Nizhny Tagil Charter in relation to the evidential, identity, instrumental and social values it encompasses. To conclude, I outline some further concepts that the care of the industrial heritage ought to accommodate, setting its valuation on a more reflective, critical basis.

" Why do we conserve special places? "

There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' ... more There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' of 'familiar and cherished' buildings, places and landscapes. I use these 'meta-categories of value' to create a conceptual framework to map the values people ascribe to them. This disaggregates concepts and motivations along a scale from the concrete, objective properties which places and buildings have, through the terms provided by charters and legislation to articulate values, to the most abstract and all-embracing concepts such as 'society', 'culture', the 'economy'. The map is intended to be used as a tool for recognising power relations and in negotiating stakeholder conflicts about the significance of places.

" Why do we conserve special places? "

There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' ... more There are four basic and distinct types of reason why people wish to 'prolong the cultural life' of 'familiar and cherished' buildings, places and landscapes. I use these 'meta-categories of value' to create a conceptual framework to map the values people ascribe to them. This disaggregates concepts and motivations along a scale from the concrete, objective properties which places and buildings have, through the terms provided by charters and legislation to articulate values, to the most abstract and all-embracing concepts such as 'society', 'culture', the 'economy'. The map is intended to be used as a tool for recognising power relations and in negotiating stakeholder conflicts about the significance of places.

Using old farm buildings for transmitting vernacular traditions in Ireland

by Anna Meenan and Colm Murray

This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme,... more This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme, how a State authority could support a vernacular tradition. Irish traditional farm buildings are the cultural expression of ‘the ordinary people’. They were often self-built using available resources, and are considered ‘vernacular’ for this reason. This paper addresses whether state grant aid supports or undermines the autonomy and vitality of a vernacular building tradition and how to address the issues of agency whilst supporting that tradition. It will describe how effort invested in communication between key parties makes vernacular skills transmission possible, and a positive values-changing process.

Using old farm buildings for transmitting vernacular traditions in Ireland

by Colm Murray and Anna Meenan

This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme,... more This paper explores, through the experience of administering a farm building repair grant scheme, how a State authority could support a vernacular tradition. Irish traditional farm buildings are the cultural expression of 'the ordinary people'. They were often self-built using available resources, and are considered 'vernacular' for this reason. This paper addresses whether state grant aid supports or undermines the autonomy and vitality of a vernacular building tradition and how to address the issues of agency whilst supporting that tradition. It will describe how effort invested in communication between key parties makes vernacular skills transmission possible, and a positive values-changing process.

Built Heritage Conservation and Ecologically Sustainable Development

The Heritage Council, 2012

The paper explores the contribution that the conservation of the built heritage makes to environm... more The paper explores the contribution that the conservation of the built heritage makes to environmentally sustainable development. 'The most environmentally benign building is the one that need not be built because it already exists'. It considers existing buildings as a material resource of often irreplaceable materials, and as accruing environmental wisdom, often now forgotten, as well as stabilizing the image of places for people. It notes the local and person-based economic benefits of skilled conservation work.