Co-founders of Grafton Architects, Yvonne Farrell, and Shelley McNamara were recently announced winners of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
According to the award-winning body's jury, the two won the award because of their integrity in their approach to the manner they conduct their practice, and for their buildings, as well.
The two women architects are the first to receive the said awards from Ireland, and the fourth and fifth women, respectively, to be the prestigious award's winners.
Following Zha Hadid, the 2004 sole winner, Kazuyo Sejima, a 2010 winner alongside Ryeue Nishizawa, and Carme Pigem, who received the award alongside Ramon Vilalta and Rafael Aranda in 2017, this year's winners were described as pioneers in the field they work in, that has customarily been (and is still) a male-dominated profession, and inspirations to other people as they both establish their excellent professional path.
Constructing Buildings Around the World
What's quite more interesting about this pair is that they have completed buildings all over the world. More so, they were awarded the World Building of the Year in 2008 for the RIBA International Price (for the University Campus UTEC Lima building in Peru and the University Luigi Bocconi in Milan.
Incidentally, the University of Limerick Medical School campus was also shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2013.
Then, in 2018, the two were recognized as the directors of Venice Architecture Biennale and in advance of the said event, they shared, around eight of the most significant works from their career to date.
Other than their work at the Grafton Architects, Farrell and McNamara was recognized as well for the manner they operate their studio, as well as their generosity to their colleagues.
Despite their numerous recognitions, the two awardees admit struggling to find the right space for the application of such values like humanism, cultural connection, craft and generosity with which every context and place within which they work.
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Honest Approach to Architecture
Undoubtedly deserving of their awards and recognition, Farrell and McNamara's approach to their architecture has always been honest which reveals an understanding of design processes and large-scale construction of scale structures up to the smallest details.
It is frequently in these details and information, particularly buildings built out of modest budgets, where the huge effect can be felt.
Constant in their method, these award-winning architects have a mutual understanding of the manner of designing complex sections of the buildings in a way that visualizes link deep spaces of the interior with the bigger exterior space and let the natural light generate, and enliven spaces deep inside the building.
And, for their reliability in their approach to both their manner of conducting their practice and their buildings, Farrell and McNamara's perception in collaboration, as earlier mentioned, their generosity towards their co-workers, specifically as evidenced in events like the 2018 Venice Biennale, their unending commitment to exemplary in architecture, their distinctiveness of each place where they work, for all these purposes and more, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are undoubtedly deserving to be awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize.
