©Picture Plane
Yvonne Farrell, along with Shelley McNamara co-founded Grafton Architects in 1978 having graduated from University College Dublin in 1974. She is a Fellow of the RIAI, International Honorary Fellow of the RIBA and elected member of Aosdána, the eminent Irish Art organisation.
In 2018, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara were the Curators of the Venice Architecture Biennale. Their manifesto: Freespace was the title of the Biennale.
Recently completed projects include The Town House Building, Kingston University London; The School of Economics for the University of Toulouse 1 Capitol; Institut Mines Télécom University Building, Paris Saclay, The Marshall Institute, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, for the London School of Economics; Headquarters for Electricity Supply Board (ESB) with OMP architects in Dublin.
In 2019, the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) awarded the RIAI James Gandon Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture to Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, of Grafton Architects. The Gandon Medal is the highest personal award given to an Architect in Ireland.
The practice was presented with the 2020 RIBA Royal Gold Medal in London. Grafton Architects were the winners of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies Van der Rohe Award 2022 for the Townhouse, Kingston University London.
Yvonne Farrell, along with Shelley McNamara, were selected as the 2020 Pritzker Prize Laureates, the award that is known internationally as architecture’s highest honour.
