The utility and aesthetics of landscape: a case study of Irish vernacular architecture

This paper investigates the utilitarian or everyday relationships to landscape evident in the interlocking of land use practices, spatial strategies, and built structures in the context of rural Ireland. Primary research in the form of spatial documentation of landscape strategies deployed in farm buildings, marine structures, mill buildings, and limekilns are presented and analysed, revealing landscape’s role as an instrumental element in these configurations, not merely a setting. Generally, aesthetic interpretations of these structures and configurations are concerned with the qualities of their vernacular form as typology and their scenic relationship to landscape. A performative reading of vernacular architecture/landscape configurations presents a counterpoint to this discourse, and informs a re-articulation of their aesthetic/ethical interpretation.