Yvonne Farrell, born in 1951, in Tullamore, Ireland, and Shelley McNamara, born in 1952, in Lisdoonvarna in County Clare, Ireland, met at the University College Dublin and subsequently founded Grafton Architects in 1974. Since then, they have built numerous buildings large and small all over the world. They specialize in institutional architecture. Their buidings, no mater the scale, are cognicent of inner spaces suitable to human scale. Farrell and McNamara were awarded the 2020 Pritzker Prize earlier this week.
“Co-founding their professional practice, called Grafton Architects, in Dublin, Ireland in 1978, they have consistently and unhesitatingly pursued the highest quality of architecture for the specific location in which it was to be built, the functions it would house and especially for the people who would inhabit and use their buildings and spaces. They have an oeuvre that includes numerous educational buildings, housing, and cultural and civic institutions. Pioneers in a field that has traditionally been and still is a male-dominated profession, they are also beacons to others as they forge their exemplary professional path.” Pritzker Prize Jury Citation
North King Street Housing
2000, Dublin, Ireland
The Long House
2001, Dublin, Ireland
Urban Institute of Ireland, University College Dublin
2002, Dublin, Ireland
Ardscoil Mhuire Ballinasloe
2003, Ballinasloe, Galway, Ireland
Dunshaughlin Civic Offices
2003, Meath, Ireland
Loreto Community School
2006, Milford, Ireland
Trinity College, MME Dept Phase 2
2006, Dublin, Ireland
Department of Finance
2007, Dublin, Ireland
Solstice Arts Centre
2007, Navan, Ireland
Universitata Luigi Bocconi
2008, Milan, Italy
Waterloo Lane News
2008, Dublin, Ireland
UL President’s House
2011, Limerick, Ireland
University of Limerick
2012, Limerick, Ireland
University Campus UTEC
2015, Lima, Peru
Institut Mines-Télécom
2019, Paris-Saclay, France
Toulouse School of Economics
2019, Toulouise, France
Town House Kingston University
2019, London, UK
London School of Economics
2020, London, UK
