The Architecture Factory is a third level architectural education, learning and research space situated in a disused split-level warehouse in Cork, Ireland. The interior architectural intervention adapts used shipping containers into lecturer offices dividing the ground floor space into 7 open plan studios. These are divided from a new mezzanine structure by a wide boulevard which functions as a live lab, exhibition and making space. The mezzanine cantilevers over this space creating online learning facilities above seminar rooms, storage, photo labs and studios bookending the enclosures.

Marc O Riain is one of Ireland’s most senior Commercial Interior Architecture professions with over €167m of completed projects to date. He has won all the industry awards nationally and one international award as well as running a successful teams at O’Riordan Staehli Architects, Henry J Lyons Architects and RUA Architects in Cork.

 He has been involved in PhD research with the Cork Centre of Architectural Education in the topic of low energy retrofit. As part of the research he was the architectural lead researcher in Zero2020, an energy retrofit prototype based on a section of the 1967 RTC typology based in Cork. The prototype has achieved a performance in line with nZEB expected energy consumption (EPBD). The project won the IDI Design Sustainability Award in 2012. His most recent work on the Architecture Factory has won the IDI design grand prix and is a World Architecture Architizer A+ Finalist. Graduating from NCAD & UL in 1995 he has learned his trade in Galway, Dublin and Cork. 

His work spans the national and international Blue Chip companies, such as Amazon, Ernst & Young, Deloittes, Nortel Networks, Microsoft, TYCO, balanced with his public work on many hospitals, colleges and exhibition buildings. These have included the award winning Cork Maternity Hospital, St Johns Central College, Mansion House Cork, Cliffs of Moher Interpretive Centre, Zero2020 and Architecture Factory to name a few. Marc’s advocacy role has seen him as chairman of Cork Design Week, national IDI Education Board member of the IDI, Academic Councils of NCAD & CIT and founder of the Professional Accreditation for Interior Architects Ireland. Architecture Week.

 Marc is the incoming Prudent of the Institute of Designers in Ireland

The Department of Architecture is part of Cork Institute Of Technology. The facility was designed by in house designers in conjunction with external consultants. The Department of Architecture offers programs in Interior Architecture & Architectural Technology and Architecture at Ordinary Degree, Honours Degree, Masters and PhD. It has over 300 students of which 240 are located in the Architecture Factory. The Department has a long history firstly as part of the Crawford School and since 1974 with Cork Institute of Technology. The institution is located in the Port town of Cork, the republic's second largest city on the southern tip of Ireland. CIT is recognised and respected as a progressive educational institution of international standing. Established in 1912, it has developed significantly over the years and has been recognised twice as the Sunday Times "Institute of Technology of the Year". All of its programmes meet the requirements of the Irish National Framework of Qualifications and, thus, are fully recognised internationally. CIT is noted for the strength of its relationships with industry and the applied nature of its courses and research programmes. A key component of CIT's work is servicing industry both through the supply of graduates and through research. It maintains relationships with several universities across the world with whom it exchanges students and staff. As a consequence, approximately 800 international students and researchers are registered on CIT's research and educational programmes. Furthermore, CIT operates a vibrant innovation centre which acts as a launching pad for high potential start-up businesses that are fundamentally reliant upon research. These start-up businesses provide a constant stream of opportunities for graduates and researchers who wish to engage with new technologies and realise their entrepreneurial ambitions.