Dreaming Squares

(Paddy Cahill/2018/Ireland)

Dreaming Squares is a short documentary which consists of an interview with Dr. Ronnie Tallon, one of Irelands most prolific and innovative architects of the 20^th century. He gives a brief outline of his influences and approach before focusing on the Carroll Cigarette Factory in Dundalk built in 1970. His architectural philosophy and vision based around the geometric shape of the square was indebted to both the Katsura villa in Kyoto and Ludwig Mies, the Bauhaus exponent. The direct relationship of Tallon’s vision to the Carroll building should be obvious to anyone who has seen it or walked around and inside it but Dreaming Squares acts as a succinct summation of his theory and an exposition of how he put that theory into practice in the design of the building. It is an exemplary piece of modernist architecture and today forms part of the Dundalk Institute of Technology campus, the main reason for my interest in it and the film as I’m currently attending a part time course at the college.

(3/5)