Farrell and McNamara win the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2020

Something capable of connecting us to the world as probably no other spatial discipline can. This is the definition of architecture for Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, winners of the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2020

Precisely thanks to this modus operandi and this vision of architecture, considered a cultural and spatial phenomenon, the Irish duo Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have been assigned this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Università di Tolosa
Toulouse University

Founders of the studio Grafton Architects since 1978 in Dublin, where they live and work, in slightly over 40 years they have completed about the same number of projects. “For their integrity in their approach to their buildings, as well as the way they conduct their practice, their belief in collaboration, their generosity towards their colleagues, especially as evidenced in such events as the 2018 Venice Biennale, their unceasing commitment to excellence in architecture, their responsible attitude toward the environment, their ability to be cosmopolitan while embracing the uniqueness of each place in which they work, for all these reasons and more, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize,” the jury wrote.

University Campus UTEC Lima
University Campus UTEC Lima

Their homeland of Ireland, with its mountains and coastlines, has made the firm Grafton Architects sensitive to geography, different types of climate and nature. One example is the University Campus UTEC Lima (Lima, Peru 2015) located next to a busy highway, deep in a gully and in proximity to a residential district. The project develops vertically, like a cliff, countering the frenzy of the city while responding to the issues of the local climate.

Università Bocconi
Bocconi University

On the other hand, a building that demonstrates their ability to create relations between public and private spaces, with indoor-outdoor dialogue, is the Bocconi University (Milan, Italy 2008), where the public space at ground level (which extends inside) is utilized not only by the students, but also by the people of the city.

Dipartimento di Finanza
Department of Finance

The Department of Finance (Dublin, Ireland 2009) uses local limestone for the thick panels cladding the facades, adding force to the building. Humanism, cultural connection, generosity, the human scale, intimacy inside vast structures: these are the characteristics that set the projects developed by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara apart in various areas of the world, including Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Peru.