Department of Finance, Temple Bar Square included in wide portfolio
Grafton Architects has won numerous awards for its work in Ireland since the practice was founded 30 years ago by the late Frank Hall, along with Shelley McNamara, Yvonne Farrell, Shay Cleary and Tony Murphy. Of the original founders, only Farrell and McNamara remain. They were joined by other talented architects such as Ger Carty and Philippe O’Sullivan in what is still a relatively small practice, with a two-storey studio in Dame Court, Dublin, that’s filled with architectural models – evidence of the way they work. Grafton’s most noteworthy recent building in Ireland is the Department of Finance’s offices on Merrion Row, adjoining the Huguenot Cemetery, a stone building that bears some similarities (apart from its small scale) to Bocconi’s new Faculty Building in Milan. Much of their work involves public projects, such as the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering building in Trinity College, a distinctive basalt cube which was completed in 1999, or the Killarney Road bridge on the N11 (1995), designed with engineers Roughan O’Donovan. Grafton Architects was also among the nine practices that came together to form Group 91, first for Making a Modern Street, a housing scheme for the Liberties – and then the Temple Bar Architectural Framework Plan, also in 1991.
