Spotlight On Careers - Daire Braken

Daire is a senior executive architect with Fingal County Council, as well as an accomplished composer, songwriter and fiddle player. We spoke to Daire about his experience in the public sector, and the influence music has on him.  

It’s obvious that you have a gift for music, but how did you become an architect?  

I was not related to, nor did I know any architects growing up. I liked arts and making miniature houses and such when I was young, along with woodworking, technology and helping to restore my parents' old house. My father reminded me of that when I was filling out the CAO and there were still attitudes at the time that life as a musician would be hard. As it turned out, it was music that helped me pay for my architecture studies; although it didn't help to be abroad with Danú or Slide during exam time! 

What is your favourite architectural project that you worked on?  

I have to say that designing our own house was the project I enjoyed the most, but at the same time the most stressful. I've designed houses for other people but it's nice to be able to stay there after all the work! Masonry was involved. I was able to try out ideas and go wild with things that you couldn't do on someone else's house such as glass bricks, a brick vault, a stove and even the windows as part of the walls. The initiative won architecture awards with the RIAI and AAI. 

Does music influence your work as an architect or vice versa?  

There is always an impact both ways. Answering this in full would be the subject of a dissertation! I always think about acoustics in my designs. I always have the basic structure of the music in mind before I start my fun on top! 

The largest number of members are registered with Gréasán Gaeilge na hEarnála Poiblí from Fingal County Council over any other local authority. Do you have the opportunity to use Irish together in the workplace?   

We have a lunch with Irish almost every Wednesday, a relaxed gathering for anyone with Irish at any level in the Council started by Bernie Kelly, and we greet each other in Irish if we meet in the corridors in the office. 

An abundance of technical terms prevents us being able to discuss the projects and work of the day in Irish though.

Are there any similarities in the way that you design an architectural project and the way you write music?  

The experience of arranging music with groups of musicians helped me understand in architecture that it is better to direct the building materials, the craftsmen and everyone involved in a project towards their own strengths and talents in order to get a simple, clear and enjoyable piece as a result rather than things to push towards a vision that would not be half as good as the result of the working group. 

Why did you choose a job in the public sector?  

Architecture involves long hours of work after long training as you know. I was devoting this large amount of my time (other than playing music!) to private companies with the main goal of profit. I have recently decided to change to the public sector to put my time and training to work, in order to help provide facilities to the public; houses, libraries, sports and music venues that I had the opportunity to use at little cost while growing up. 

Is it difficult to be creative when there are budgetary constraints?  

Constraint is just a challenge and that's where the good designs come from. I have never been comfortable with unnecessary spending and inappropriately exaggerated designs. I tend towards minimalist or minimalist art in music and architecture alike. 

If you could design a music venue, what features would it have?  

Good acoustics and a mix of acoustics, are the most important invisible characteristics. I've done a few small sites, initiatives and lots of research on music venues but ironically, sports venues and even shopping centers are the ones I've done the most over the years! The Séamus Ennis Centre, and other centres, are under the care of Fingal County Council and I hope to be involved with them. 

You have travelled the world with your music, did you get any architectural inspiration from any other country?  

Always. Plenty of inspiration from all corners of the world. All the music touring was a passport to seeing the world and I would often work on design while traveling. On a cold snowy night in Austria, for example, there was a big stove made of bricks behind the stage, all the musicians were stuck to it warm their bones and I decided to make one like it in a house in Scotland that I was designing and in our own house afterwards too. We love it. 

Where did you get your love for music?  

It’s hard to not love music. Everyone in the family attended music classes at CCÉ near us and I think it was the Willie Clancy Summer School that I liked the most when I was young. I didn't realize my mother's parents were jazz musicians until later in life, it must be in my blood though I believe anyone can enjoy playing music.