arch·ive·house: embodying oral culture
a minimal conversion of the existing structure where household objects become "containers" for oral history. the television and radio play songs, stories and videos from achill's past. the telephone rings and a story is told. newspapers carry articles about the achill railway, the kirkintilloch fire and the basking shark. the shower cubicle is a recording room where anyone can have their song or story recorded and stored. the house thus becomes more than an archive, it becomes a living depository for oral history...
pub·lic·house: sustaining oral culture
a conversion from a house to a public house. complete with a bar, toilets and seating designed to encourage oral transmission i.e. a conversation between two or more people, face to face.(a simple concept but one that is becoming increasingly rare in these days of electronic communication.) a singing/music space with panoramic views of the atlantic is an attempt to sustain the verbal arts of conversation, singing and of aurally transmitted music...
rad·i·o·house:renewing oral culture
"radio can be intimately involved with the production and elaboration of place-based notions of identity [by playing] a role in the historical constitution of indigeneity as well as the making of contemporary life" (Drobnick, 2004)
a steel clad box is inserted into the shell of the house. this addition contains a studio, mixing desk and office for a locally based radio station. this station provides a forum for renewed oral transmission via a digital medium. it has the potential to renew links between achill people and re-connect with the achill diaspora across the globe...
Drobnick, J. (2004), Aural Cultures, YYZ Books, Ontario
Ong W.J. Orality and Literacy, Routledge, London, New York
Watson, A. & Cocker D. (2003), Leaving Jericho, John David Mooney Foundation, Chicago
