The Hamilton Room
The Hamilton Room in the heart of the pavilion provides a hub for a wide range of cultural, business and diplomatic conversations, connections and engagements during the six months of Expo.
The Hamilton Room is named after William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) who was Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College, Dublin and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. He is best remembered for ‘quaternions’— defined by Hamilton as the quotient of two directed lines in a three dimensional space — and for his pioneering work on optics and dynamics. An illustration of Hamilton’s Quaternion is displayed on the front façade of the pavilion.
The Hamilton Room also contains pieces from Louis le Brocquy’s (1916-2012) An ‘Táin’ Collection. Louis le Brocquy is considered one of Ireland’s foremost painters. These pieces are presented in partnership with the Arts Council. The Táin Bó Cuailnge (the ‘Cattle Raid of Cooley’) is Ireland’s greatest epic, the Irish equivalent of the Iliad or the Odyssey. The story revolves around Queen Medh of Connaught in the west of Ireland who plots to steal the sacred bull, Donn Cuailnge from Ulster in the north — and the heroic actions of the teenage hero Cúchulainn in resisting the warriors of Connaught.
The Hamilton Room will host a series of events, such as panel discussions featuring academics, creative practitioners, activists, public policy figures and politicians, as curated by the Royal Irish Academy. Coinciding with the centenary of the Irish State, Expo 2020 provides an opportunity to showcase how creativity is an organising principle in Irish life.
The Hamilton Room will also host CoderDojo workshops. Coderdojo is a global volunteer-led community of free programming workshops for young people aged 7-17. From its beginnings in Ireland, CoderDojo is now teaching the next generation of future change-makers and creators in 75 countries around the world. CoderDojo’s work encapsulates the Expo theme of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.’