Grafton Architects

Among these the Trinity College Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Finance offices in Dublin, the Medical School and the student dormitory at Limerick University, the enlarging of the Bocconi University in Milan; this last work was worth International recognition as the 2008 World Building of the Year award and the ranking in the five finalists of the 2009 Mies Van Der Rohe Prize. Other relevant buildings projected by the Irish architects are the Drogheda Fire and Rescue Service, the Loreto Community School in Milford and the Solstice Art Centre in Navan. More recently the studio won international competition for the Toulose University School of Economics and the new UTEC Campus at Lima University, Peru. Grafton Architects were the first Irish studio to be invited at Venice Biennale in 2002. Afterwards they were invited to the Laguna in 2008 and in 2012 when they were Silver Lion. The studio is directed by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, who held lectures and conferences in Dublin, Harvard, London, Lausanne, Oslo, Yale, and Mendrisio. The designers have participated in the judging panel of several important architecture awards as the 2008 RIBA Stirling Prize, the 2010 British Civic Trust, the 2011 Mies Van Der Rohe Prize and the 2012 RIBA Award.