It was International Bog Day on Sunday, and today the Irish Architecture Foundation is delighted to announce the Bog Bothy project. This 30-month project will help nurture a new, sustainable relationship with Ireland’s ecologically and culturally important bog landscape. Bog Bothy has been selected as one of 43 projects under the Creative Climate Action II – Agents for Change, funded by Creative Ireland. The IAF is pleased to be working with architects Evelyn D’Arcy and David Jameson (12th Field) and working with the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, Technological University of the Shannon and Common Knowledge.

The Bog Bothy project will work with peatland communities to co-create bog bothies as spaces for shelter, retreat, and deep engagement with this changing landscape. As Ireland moves away from industrial peat extraction and creates new plans for outdoor recreation infrastructure, these sustainable and creative architectural interventions will pilot new ways of maintaining historic connections with the bog while protecting and sustaining it for future generations. Bog Bothy builds on the relationships and findings of the IAF’s Workers’ Villages project, which worked closely with midlands villages designed by Frank Gibney for Bord na Móna workers. It also connects with new ambitious plans to rehabilitate and reimagine the role of the bogs and how we engage with them in a time of climate crisis.

The Irish Architecture Foundation is honoured that Bog Bothy has been selected for Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action II funding, having previously been awarded Creative Climate Action funding for Workers’ Villages. Bog Bothy is part of the IAF’s Reimagine programme, which supports  communities to create better places to live, work, and play. As an organisation working throughout Ireland, the IAF looks forward to working with our partners and peatlands communities on this project of both local and national significance.