[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-663605-105":59,"doc-detail-663605-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","designing-donnybrook-conceiving-irelands-architecture-of-containment-chapter-5-introduction","Designing Donnybrook: Conceiving Ireland’s ‘Architecture of Containment’ - Chapter 5 - Introduction","","Chapter 5 examines how Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries can be understood through architectural design, built form, and spatial experience rather than only through conventional archival records. 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(2023) . Designing Donnybrook: conceiving Ireland's 'architecture of containment'. In M. Coen, K.  \nO'Donnell, & M. O'Rourke (Eds.), A Dublin Magdalene laundry: Donnybrook and church–state power in Ireland (pp. 129-150) . Bloomsbury Academic. [https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350279087.ch-005](https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350279087.ch-005)  \nPublished in:  \nA Dublin Magdalene laundry: Donnybrook and church–state power in Ireland  \nDocument Version:  \nPeer reviewed version  \nQueen's University Belfast-Research Portal:  \nLink to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal  \nPublisher rights  \nCopyright 2023 Bloomsbury Publishing.  \nThis work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.  \nGeneral rights  \nCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.  \nTake down policy  \nThe Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, [please contact openaccess@qub.ac.uk](please contact openaccess@qub.ac.uk).  \nOpen Access  \nThis research has been made openly available by Queen's academics and its Open Research team. We would love to hear how access to this research benefits you.– Share your feedback with us: [http://go.qub.ac.uk/oa-feedback](http://go.qub.ac.uk/oa-feedback)  \nDownload date:28 . Oct. 2026  \nChapter 5: Designing Donnybrook: Conceiving Ireland’s ‘Architecture of Containment’  \nChris Hamill  \nIntroduction  \nIn his 2007 ‘partial history’ of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, James Smith coins the term, ‘the nation’s architecture of containment’ to refer to the network that connected and supported Ireland’s Magdalene laundries together with other carceral institutions across the island. 1 But the use of the word ‘architecture’ also begs the question, what of the buildings themselves? To date, little has been written of the design and architectural features, nor of the experiential qualities of space within Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries (with the notable exception of O’Mahoney et al.2 on the former Magdalene Laundry at Waterford) . Yet the study of buildings and architectural history can provide a valuable insight into the cultural attitudes and social priorities of the past, and it is evident that the physical fabric of buildings themselves can act as invaluable historic artefacts.3  \nThe Evidential Qualities of Architecture  \nArchitecture is never arbitrary. Buildings are commissioned by a client to serve particular purposes and are designed to meet these requirements and deal adequately with the constraints of site, structure, budget, and taste. Therefore, the various iterations of design drawings and the eventual built reality represents a transcript of conversations, disagreements and compromises, which can be read, either alone or in combination with other historic sources. Construction projects also tend to represent large investments of time, effort and money, with design decisions often carefully considered and indicative of not just the individual client’s priorities, but broader institutional and societal attitudes.4 This evidential quality of architecture, which results from the intentionality ofits design, is one of the core  \nconcepts of architectural history.5  \nIt is also important to remember that buildings are rarely static objects, and evolve and are changed throughout their (sometimes lengthy) li","cbCaic1UDDYwzTAi","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaic1UDDYwzTAi","pdf",2664291,33,"English","# Introduction\n# The Evidential Qualities of Architecture\n# Sources","[{\"question\":\"Why does the chapter focus on architecture instead of only traditional historical records?\",\"answer\":\"Because many conventional sources remain in private archives of the religious orders, which have become unwilling to provide researchers access. Architectural remains therefore become crucial historic evidence.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the chapter claim makes architecture an evidential source?\",\"answer\":\"Buildings are designed intentionally to meet client purposes and site, structural, budget, and taste constraints. Design drawings and later physical changes record conversations, compromises, and institutional or societal priorities over time.\"},{\"question\":\"How can buildings convey meaning beyond design decisions and memory?\",\"answer\":\"The chapter argues that architecture can communicate functions and uses to outside viewers, shaping how observers interpret what the buildings are for, not merely what they were originally intended to store.\"}]","Designing Donnybrook: Conceiving Ireland’s ‘Architecture of Containment’ - Chapter 5 - Introduction | PDF",83]