Design Matters: Sheila O’Donell and John Tuomey of O’Donnell + Tuomey

Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey met while they were studying architecture at UCD. Working together for more than 25 years as O’Donnell + Tuomey, they have won multiple awards for their sensitiveand intelligent work. Earlierthis year, they received the world’s most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal. Buildings include Cork’s Glucksman Gallery, the Lyric Theatre Belfast, the LSE Student Centre in London, as well as domestic, schools and social housing projects.

“Architecture is more than monuments and civic buildings. It’s about all buildings and public spaces; how they are used in our lives. People often enjoy these spaces without realising they’re architecture. A porch in the rain – that’s architecture. When you get it right, it’s life enhancing."

“From Timberyard in Dublin, to the Glucksman in Cork, our buildings don’t look like one another, but they do feel like one another in the way they extend the idea of threshold, blur the lines between inside and outside and dissolve rigid boundaries. We like the idea of that contingent space – where you don’t quite have to commit – it makes for invitational buildings."

“A city is a living thing, and to weave new buildings and spaces into its fabric, you have to consider place, context and character. ‘New’ is only new on the day it’s new, so we want to make something that is of its time, and which can sit with things from another time."

“As we travel more, talk more, especially since getting the Gold Medal, we’ve started to feel that architects in other parts of the world aren’t as concerned with those conversations between new and old. Architecture has a secret life, a poetic life, it’s all about understanding the world and how we live in it. Yes, we’re obsessed – when we take a break, we go and look at architecture. Currently we’re working on a new Student Hub at UCC, centred around a very beautiful 19th century building, and a school on Patrick’s Hill, the steepest street in Ireland. We’re also building a new university in Budapest.”

[ odonnell-tuomey.ie ]