The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland ( ga, Institiúid Ríoga Ailtirí na hÉireann) founded in 1839, is the "competent authority for

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and professional body for

Architecture in the Republic of Ireland Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

." The RIAI's purpose is "to uphold the highest standards in architecture and to provide impartial and authoritative advice and information in issues affecting architects, the

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ...

and

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

." The RIAI's primary roles are in the areas of: Protecting the consumer; Promoting architecture; Supporting architects and

architectural technologists The architectural technologist, also known as a building technologist, provides technical building design services and is trained in architectural technology, building technical design and construction. Architectural technologists apply the scienc ...

; and Regulating architects. The institute is governed by a 26-member council.

Activities

In addition to providing a range of services to the public, to members and to the State, the RIAI operates annual design awards, and is responsible for awarding the RIAI Gold Medal. This prize is awarded every three years to the best building completed in a given three-year period. The RIAI also awards the James Gandon Medal for 'lifetime achievement' in architecture. The inaugural award was made to Dr. Ronald Tallon of

Scott Tallon Walker Scott Tallon Walker is an architecture practice with its head office in Dublin, Ireland and further offices in London, Galway and Cork. It is one of the largest architecture practices in Ireland. Established in 1931 as Scott and Good, becoming ...

on 23 November 2010 by Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport,

Mary Hanafin Mary Hanafin (born 1 June 1959) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport from 2010 to 2011, Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Inn ...

, TD. In addition, the RIAI is involved in architectural education and organises an annual student competition, The RIAI Student Excellence award (formerly the RIAI Travelling Scholarship) supported by Scott Tallon Walker Architects. The competition is open to final year students at the seven schools of architecture on the island of Ireland. They also award other prizes, such as the

Deirdre O'Connor Deirdre Frances O'Connor (born 5 February 1941) is an Australian lawyer, academic, former Judge of the Federal Court, President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and President of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Early li ...

Medal which is awarded to the candidate with the best results in the Examination in Professional Practice.

Membership

The RIAI operates three grades of membership relating architects or architectural graduates: Fellowship, Membership and Architectural Graduate. Members of the three ranks are entitled to use the affixes FRIAI (Fellows), MRIAI(Members) and RIAI (ArchTech) (Architectural Technologist). Fellowship is awarded by the RIAI Council to existing Members according to specific rules. Membership is the standard level for architects in the Republic of Ireland. It is open to those who have demonstrated competence to the level of the RIAI Standard of Knowledge Skill and Competence for Professional Practice as an architect. For those who have been deemed eligible for professional membership but who are not eligible to benefit from 'automatic' recognition under EU regulations the MRIAI(IRL) affix is used instead of MRIAI. Architectural Graduate membership is open to all graduates of recognised five-year architecture programmes.

Critics and opposition

There are concerns about the RIAI having a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

on architecture in the Republic of Ireland. The new procedures for registration are perceived as unfair and unaffordable. The Competition Authority of Ireland had recommended the creation of an Architects Council of Ireland to be independent of the RIAI, but the 2007 Act promoted the RIAI as the registration body, albeit with various safeguards. The lack of any meaningful challenge by the RIAI to the antiquated Irish

Planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is c ...

and

Building Control Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting, ...

systems has allowed inherent inefficiencies and corruption to go unabated, thereby inadvertently contravening the institute's own stated goals of "Protecting the Consumer" and "Supporting architects". There is no public information available regarding the sanctioning of Members that have contravened the RIAI Code of Practice, thus denigrating the institute's claim to be an authoritative and upstanding organisation. The RIAI has been accused of misleading the public about legislative issues concerning the provision of architectural services and about registration cost. The RIAI frequently omits to inform the press and members of the public that it is not an offence and that it is legal to propose architectural services without being registered with the RIAI. Many of the so-called "''Non-registered architects''" have denounced the regulator's attitude consisting of undermining and criticising architectural services provided by professionals not registered with the RIAI. In 2010, the RIAI was found guilty of discrimination against non-RIAI professionals when the

Broadcasting Authority of Ireland The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) ( ga, Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann) was established on 1 October 2009 effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) ( ga, Coimisiún Craolacháin na hÉireann). The BAI is ...

investigated a radio advertising campaign comparing non-RIAI professionals to incompetent practitioners. The Institute had to apologise on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

and the advertising campaign was banned. While using unregistered user IPs, the RIAI also attempted during many occasions to remove information from the present Wikipedia article while including biased, non-referenced content.One example is revisions from 18/07/2019 user IP 5.149.175.138 owned by the organization: Royal Institute of Architects Ireland - Hostname: mail.riai.ie please refer to the following web page: https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/5.149.175.138 and to the present article recorded history.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Institute Of The Architects Of Ireland RIAI Learned societies of Ireland Professional associations based in Ireland Professional certification in architecture Architecture-related professional associations 1839 establishments in Ireland Seanad nominating bodies

Activities

Membership

Critics and opposition

See also

References

External links