Irish architects and educators Yvonne Farrell (1951) and Shelley McNamara (1952) of Dublin, Ireland, have been selected as the 2020 Pritzker Prize Laureates as announced by Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, sponsor of the award. The Pritzker is known internationally as architecture’s highest honour. Noticeably, Farrell and McNamara are the 47th and 48th Laureates of the Pritzker Prize and the first two recipients from Ireland.
Urban Institute of Ireland, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh
In 1978, the Duo established the Dublin-based practice, Grafton Architects, emphasizing a sense of place that the firm originated in. Together the team have received numerous accolades and architecture awards prior to the Pritzker2020, including the Biennale di Venezia Silver Lion Award (2012), Jane Drew Prize (2015), the inaugural RIBA International Prize (2016), RIAI James Gandon Medal for Lifetime Achievement (2019) and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal (2020). In 2018, Farrell and McNamara were appointed as co-curators for the 16th International Architecture Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia, with the theme FREESPACE.
University Campus UTEC Lima, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan
University Campus UTEC Lima, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan
University Campus UTEC Lima, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan
Since the inception of Grafton Architects, Farrell and McNamara have created spaces that are at once respectful and new, honouring history while demonstrating a mastery of the urban environment and craft of construction. Their work balances strength and delicacy, and upholds a reverence of site-specific contexts, their academic, civic and cultural institutions, as well as housing developments, resulting in modern and impactful works that never repeat or imitate, but are decided of their own architectural voice.
Urban Institute of Ireland, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh
“For their integrity in their approach to both their buildings, as well as the way they conduct their practice, their belief in collaboration, their generosity towards their colleagues, especially as evidenced in such events as the 2018 Venice Biennale, their unceasing commitment to excellence in architecture, their responsible attitude toward the environment, their ability to be cosmopolitan while embracing the uniqueness of each place in which they work, for all these reasons and more, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize,” stated the 2020 Jury Citation, in part.
Acclaimed projects in Farrell and McNamara’s native Ireland include the Solstice Arts Centre in County Meath (2006), the Loreto Community School in County Donegal (2006), and the University of Limerick Medical School (2012). Also of note is Dublin’s North King Street Housing, an 82-unit residential complex completed in 2000 that brought a “calm modesty” to a dense historic warehouse district by eschewing loud external design features.
“Architecture could be described as one of the most complex and important cultural activities on the planet,” remarks Farrell. “To be an architect is an enormous privilege. To win this prize is a wonderful endorsement of our belief in architecture. Thank you for this great honour”, she added.
“The collaboration between Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara represents a veritable interconnectedness between equal counterparts,” states Pritzker. “They demonstrate incredible strength in their architecture, show deep relation to the local situation in all regards, establish different responses to each commission while maintaining the honesty of their work, and exceed the requirements of the field through responsibility and community.”
Town House Building, Kingston University, photo courtesy of Ed Reeves
“It is also a wonderful recognition of the ambition and vision of the clients who commissioned us and enabled us to bring our buildings to fruition”, said McNamara.
“They have tried, with considerable success, to help us all overcome what is likely to evermore become a serious human problem,” explains Justice Stephen Breyer, Jury Chair.
McNamara states, “Architecture is a framework for human life. It anchors us and connects us to the world in a way which possibly no other space-making discipline can.” Farrell continues, “At the core of our practice is a real belief that architecture matters. It is a cultural spatial phenomenon that people invent.”
About the Pritzker Architecture Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize was founded in 1979 by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy. Its purpose is to honour annually a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture
Courtesy: All images are taken from pritzkerprize.com