Shelley McNamara (born 1952) is an Irish architect and academic. She attended University College Dublin and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Architecture.[1] She founded Grafton Architects with Yvonne Farrell in 1978.[2] Grafton rose to prominence in the early 2010s, specialising in stark, weighty but spacious buildings for higher education.[2] McNamara has taught architecture at University College Dublin since 1976 and at several other universities.
The Grafton practice was awarded the 2020 Royal Institute of British ArchitectsRoyal Gold Medal[3] and their building for the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología in Lima, Peru, was awarded the 2016 RIBA International Prize, as the best new building in the world that year.[4] In 2021, the practice was awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for the Town House building of Kingston University.[5] McNamara and Farrell shared the 2020 Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest award.[6][7]
Together with Yvonne Farrell, McNamara established Grafton Architects in Dublin in 1978,[8] naming it after Grafton Street in the city.[9] As of 2017[update], the practice employed 25 people, with McNamara and Farrell leading the designs.[4] They use weighty materials, including stone and concrete, to form spacious buildings which encourage interactions between people.[2] McNamara described her approach to architecture as "rather than thinking of a space and then finding a structure for it, we make a structure and that, in turn, makes a space"[2] and "the enjoyment in architecture is the sense of weight being borne down or supported".[4]
The Röntgen Building by Grafton architects at Bocconi University in Milan
The pair have specialised in buildings for higher education, having designed buildings for universities in Toulouse, Limerick, London and others.[2][4] These include teaching buildings, medical schools, and student accommodation.[4] They drew international attention with a building for Bocconi University in Milan, which was completed in 2008.[7] Their most celebrated building was for the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología in Peru, which won the RIBA International Prize in 2016, as the best new building in the world that year.[2]
The practice has also produced dozens of buildings in Ireland, for residential and commercial purposes as well as higher education.[7]
McNamara has worked as a studio lecturer at the School of Architecture in UCD since 1976. Shortly after graduating from University College, Dublin, McNamara began teaching at the school along with Yvonne Farrell, where she taught consistently between 1976 and 2002. In 2015, McNamara became an adjunct professor at UCD.[10]
McNamara, together with Yvonne Farrell, published the book Dialogue and Translation: Grafton Architects in 2014. This book comprises the firm's work, architectural musings and a collection of lectures delivered at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. It includes a critical commentary from Kenneth Frampton.[12]
^"Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara | The Pritzker Architecture Prize". www.pritzkerprize.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020. Upon graduating in 1976, they were each offered the unique opportunity to teach at UCD, where they continued to educate until 2006, and were appointed as adjunct professors in 2015.
