Grafton Architects, Dublin Design Office

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Grafton Architects : Architecture

Contemporary Dublin Architectural Practice, Republic of Ireland

post updated 8 April 2023

Grafton Architects News

Grafton Architects News

16 September 2021
Dublin Architecture Firm Shortlisted for RIBA Stirling Prize 2021

Kingston University London – Town House
Design: Grafton Architects
Kingston University London, Town House
photograph : Ed Reeve
Kingston University London – Town House
Of the two ambitious projects from the same client to make the shortlist, the Town House is the more conventional architectural project. It is very accomplished.

Mar 3, 2020
Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara Receive the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize

March 3rd, 2020, Chicago, IL, USA – Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Dublin, Ireland, have been selected as the 2020 Pritzker Prize Laureates, announced Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award that is known internationally as architecture’s highest honor.

Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate 2020 Winners

Pritzker Prize – background

11 Feb 2020
Grafton Architects to give Royal Gold Medal for Architecture Lecture

This Dublin-based architecture practice is the recipient of this distinguished Prize in recognition of a lifetime’s work, marked by a humble and humane approach to architecture.

The Royal Gold Medal Lecture by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, co-founders of this design studo, will take place on 12 February in the Jarvis Hall:

RIBA Gold Medal for Architecture 2020 Winner

19 + 17 Jan 2017
Grafton Architects Co-Founders to Curate 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

The organizers of the Venice Biennale named Irish architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, co-founders of Grafton Architects, as curators of the International Architecture Exhibition in 2018, reports the Architectural Record.

The announcement comes on the heels of yet another victory for the small, Dublin-based firm. In late November, Grafton Architects received RIBA’s first-ever International Prize for its monumental, Brutalist-inspired “vertical campus” for the Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia (UTEC) in Lima, Peru.

Recent accolades aside, Farrell and McNamara have been practicing for nearly four decades. Since establishing their firm in 1978, the pair has designed numerous institutional projects in their native Ireland as well as abroad in countries including Italy and France.

The architects are no stranger to the Biennale, either. In 2012, the firm won the prestigious Silver Lion award for their exhibition “Common Ground,” a collaboration with Paulo Mendes de Rocha. At last year’s exhibition, they created a video installation documenting the life—inside and out—of their UTEC building.

“The curators, who are well-known for the refinement of their work, are also known for their intense didactic activity and their ability to involve and fascinate new generations,” said Biennale president Paolo Baratta.

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena curated the 2016 Biennale, with the theme “Reporting from the Front,” which sought to address urgent global issues. Past curators have included Rem Koolhaas, David Chipperfield, and Kazuyo Sejima.

According to Baratta, Farrell and McNamara are expected to expand upon the ideas explored in Aravena’s exhibition, but from the perspective of space—public and private—as well as landscape.

24 Nov 2016
Grafton Architects Win RIBA International Prize 2016

The University of Engineering Campus (UTEC) in Lima, Peru, has won the RIBA International Prize.

Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia
photograph : Iwan Baan

The UTEC project in Lima was one of six finalist buildings visited by the Grand Jury of the prize, chaired by British architect Richard Rogers.

Projects demonstrate a range of innovative responses to the role of public architecture, providing major new additions to their contexts and communities.

Grafton Architects Win RIBA International Prize 2016

28 Oct 2016
Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia
Design: Grafton Architects with Shell Arquitectos
Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia by Grafton Architects
photo : Iwan Baan
Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia UTEC Lima

The UTEC in Lima is a new faculty for a 50 year old engineering university to enable young Peruvians to gain engineering qualifications and to encourage social mobility.

21 Apr 2016

44 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London School of Economics, London, England, UK

Paul Marshall Building Competition Winner

LSE reveals winner of their latest RIBA design competition for The Paul Marshall Building

Paul Marshall Building Competition Design by Grafton Architects
image from architect

This Dublin-based architecture practice have been selected as the winners of the competition to design 44 Lincoln’s Inn fields/the Paul Marshall Building, the next major building project of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Architecture in Ireland – latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:

University of Limerick Medical School and Pergola Bus Shelter, western Ireland
Date built: 2013
University of Limerick Medical School, Ireland buildings
photograph © Dennis Gilbert
University of Limerick Medical School
RIBA National Award Winner – 13 Jun 2013

Key Projects in Dublin by ths Architecture Studio

Featured Buildings by Grafton, alphabetical:

Parson’s Podium, Parsons Building, Ireland
Date built: 2006

University Luigi Bocconi, Milan, Italy
Date built: 2008
Universita Luigi Bocconi Milan building by Grafton Architects
photograph : Federico Brunetti
University Luigi Bocconi : Mies van der Rohe Award 2009 Finalist
A Piece of City: the idea was to make two worlds, one hovering over the other, with the space of the city flowing between. The design studio took the public space of the through the building bringing with it the stone floor of Milan. This opens the university to the life of the city. The building feels like a city in miniature.

More projects by Grafton Architects online soon

Location: 97 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, Ireland, north west Europe

Grafton Architects Practice Information

Grafton Architects studio based in Dublin, Ireland

Irish Architects : Dublin Architect Studio

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara graduated from the School of Architecture in UCD in 1974, where they began teaching in 1976. Both lecture and teach internationally.

They are co-founders of Grafton Architects established in 1978 and founder members of Group ‘91 Architects, winners of the International Competition for the Regeneration of Temple Bar, Dublin.

University Luigi Bocconi
photograph : Federico Brunetti

Co-Directors Gerard Carty and Philippe O’Sullivan joined this Dublin architecture studio in 1993 and 1992 respectively. Simona Castelli was been project architect for the Bocconi Project since 2002.

Grafton Architects won World Architecture Festival Awards, World Building of the Year Award 2008 and have won numerous Awards, including the AAI Downes medal.

The work of the architects practice is exhibited widely including: RIAI in 1999; Milan Urban Centre 2002; Mies van der Rohe Award Exhibition 2003; Bergamo and Rome 2006; Dessa Gallery, Ljubljana 2006; Lisbon Triennale 2007; Venice Biennale 2002 & 2008. Publications include: Architecture Profile 3 [Gandon Editions, 1999], Rivista Tecnica; Domus; AREA; Architecture Ireland; Baumeister; Casabella; Materia; Werk Bauen + Wohnen; Le Visiteur.

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Website: www.graftonarchitects.ie

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