Talking to my Father
‘When I look at your buildings I don’t see tragedy- instead I see redemption and a form of your love for me’.Simon Walker
‘Talking to my Father’ features two voices from two eras each concerned with how we as a nation understand the architecture that surrounds our lives. Modern architecture in Ireland reached a high point in the early sixties and one of its most celebrated and influential figures was Robin Walker.
Robin studied under le Corbusier in Paris as a young graduate and later worked alongside Mies van der Rohe in Chicago. His return to Ireland in 1958 coincided with the emergence of an aspiring modern nation recovering from years of stagnation and emigration. Robin Walker became a key agent in this nation-building process.
A quarter of a century after his premature death, Simon addresses his father again and explores the legacy of his life’s work. The director Sé Merry Doyle allows Robin Walker’s buildings to speak for themselves, taking us on a journey with Simon in his search for Robin’s architecture of place. The wild environs of the Beara Peninsula is the spectacular setting for ‘Bóthar Buí’, the home Robin built for his family, is a living microcosm of his attitude to life and work. The house acted as a retreat for artists and inspired his friend Seamus Heaney to write the poem ‘An Architect’ in his honour.