Renowned Irish Architects Awarded 2015 Royal Gold Medal

The renowned Irish architects Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey have received the 2015
Royal Gold Medal, the world’s most prestigious architecture award.

Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is
approved personally by Her Majesty The Queen and is given
to a person or group of people who have had a significant
influence “either directly or indirectly on the advancement of
architecture”.Awarded since 1848, previous
Royal Gold Medallists include Frank Gehry (2000), Sir Norman
Foster (1983), Frank Lloyd Wright(1941) and Sir George Gilbert
Scott (1859).Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey co-founded their practice O’Donnell and Tuomey in Dublin during 1988, having previously worked together for internationally
renowned architects Stirling Wilford Associates and Colquhoun
& Miller in London.Their new practice coupled Sheila’s ‘rationalism’ alongside John’s ‘constructivism’ and through their buildings publications, exhibitions and teaching they have forged a
confident new identity for Irish architecture.
In the early 1990s, O’Donnell and Tuomey were part of the ‘Group 91 Architects’ group whose skill in masterplanning spearheaded the
regeneration of Dublin’s neglected Temple Bar.
It was the pair’s first permanent building, the Irish Film Institute
(1991) that brought them profile and acclaim for its dynamic
contribution to the revitalised Dublin quarter.
Their early work, from a private home in Navan to schools, public
housing and community buildings,provided the canvas for them to
experiment and evolve their unconventional creative approach
and celebrated style.

More recent projects include the modest but brilliant Photographers’
Gallery in Soho and the exceptional 2014 RIBA Stirling
Prize-shortlisted Saw Swee Hock Student Centre at the London
School of Economics.O’Donnell + Tuomey have been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize a record five times – first in 1999 for Ranelagh MultiDenominational School (Dublin,
Ireland), 2005 for the Lewis Glucksman Gallery (Cork,
Ireland), 2011 for An Gaeláras Irish Language Arts and Cultural
Centre (Derry, Northern Ireland) and 2012 for Lyric Theatre
(Belfast, Northern Ireland) and in 2014 for the London School of
Economics Saw Swee Hock Students’ Centre (London, UK).
They have exhibited three times at the Venice Architecture Biennale
and are both alumni of the School of Architecture at University
College Dublin where they continue to teach and inspire the
next generation of architects.