A Chairde,
The AAI is delighted to finally announce the selected projects from the 2023 AAI Awards.
Following a very enjoyable day of discussion and debate from amongst the many varied entries, the jury of the 2023 AAI Awards were pleased to recognise twelve projects, with six Awards, five Special Mentions, as well as the Downes Medal.
The jury confessed to finding the selection process a real challenge due to the high quality and standard of the entries, and the range and breadth of work presented inspired the following declaration from a member of the jury; ‘I was very heartened. Heartened for the idea that you would continue to perfect your practice, as strongly as you potentially can, because you’re in this rich, strong, Irish, architectural culture. Some of the buildings we saw today were amongst the best buildings that are being built today in the world, and it’s fantastic to be a part of that. Just seeing Irish architecture at its fullest, is fantastic.’
Comhghairdeachas to the winners and our sincere thanks to all the entrants for your submissions. We look forward to celebrating with you soon.
The Downes medal was awarded to:
ESB Headquarters – Grafton Architects + O’Mahony Pike Architects
‘This is a headquarters for an important Irish institution and yet it is conceding the identity of the institution to the Georgian street and the Georgian pattern. It is an important lesson in how to negotiate the scale of the Georgian architecture and reinterpret it as a corporate building in a contemporary yet playful fashion.’
The six Awards were given to:
The International Rugby Experience – Níall McLaughlin Architects
‘a beautifully crafted artefact…absolutely incredible in terms of the technical competence’
Lindsay House – Ryan Kennihan Architects
‘a mature response to the site with a contemporary but sumptuous interior’
Passage House – O’Donnell & Tuomey Architects / Joseph Walsh Studio
‘ambitious and really beautiful logic of construction’
The Marshall Building LSE – Grafton Architects
‘a tour de force’
The Quay – TOB Architect
‘nothing else had the same level of consensus’
Works to Atcost 1&2 – Clancy Moore Architects
‘a thorough and subtle reading of context’
While the following five projects received Special Mentions:
Charleville – Scullion Architects
‘a contemporary and refreshing new accent
Dominick Hall – Cotter Naessens Architects + Denis Byrne Architects
‘an incredibly accomplished building’
Mulgrave – Clancy Moore Architects
‘an economy in the building of what’s really only one flat-roofed extension, made into an absolutely beautiful series of spaces’
Printing House Square – McCullough Mulvin Architects (design) with
O’Mahony Pike Architects (delivery)
‘a very strong muscular insertion into Trinity against hot competition in the immediate context’
Regency Cottage – Arigho Larmour Wheeler Architects
‘As a little piece, it is quite beautiful, with a very successful interior, and manages the mass or volume of the extension with the single-storey Victorian street layout quite well.’
The adjudication took place in Smock Alley Theatre on Wednesday April 3rd 2023.
We thank the jury for their generous commitment to this process and for their insightful commentary and debate.
Critic
Farshid Moussavi of Farshid Moussavi Architects
Irish Architects:
Ali Grehan Dublin city Architect of Dublin City Council
Steve Larkin of Steve Larkin Architects
International Architect:
Niall Maxwell of Rural Office Architecture
Distinguished Non-Architect:
Dr. Gillian O’Brien – Historian and Author
The Awards presentation and exhibition will be held at the beginning of September 2023.