Shelley McNamara

Shelley McNamara (born 1952, Lisdoonvarna in County Clare) is an Irish architect. She is a co-founder of Grafton Architects with Yvonne Farrell. Grafton Architects won the World Building of the Year award in 2008 for their Bocconi University building in Milan. In 2015, Grafton Architects was awarded the fourth annual Jane Drew Prize for their “massive influence” on the profession. The practice won the inaugural RIBA International Prize in 2016 for their Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología building in Lima, Peru and in 2017 she was appointed, along with Yvonne Farrell, as curator of the 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2018.

McNamara attended University College, Dublin (UCD) in 1974. She is inspired by architects past and present including Eileen Gray, Flora Ruchat-Roncati, Lina Bo Bardi, Anna Heringer and Carme Pinos.

She is a fellow of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and elected member of Aosdána, the eminent Irish arts organization. McNamara is the first architect to be included in Aosdána.

Together with Yvonne Farrell, McNamara established Grafton Architects in Dublin, Ireland in 1978.

Shelley has worked as a studio lecturer at the School of Architecture in UCD since 1976. Shortly after graduating from University College, Dublin, McNamara began teaching at the school along with Yvonne Farrell, where she has taught consistently between 1976 and 2002. In 2015, McNamara became an adjunct professor at UCD.

In addition to UCD, McNamara has been a visiting professor at Accademia d’Archittettura, Oxford Books University, Accademia di Archittettura, Mendrisio (2008- 2010), Oslo, EPFL and Lausanne (2010-2011). She became a full professor at Mendrisio in 2013. In 2010, McNamara held the Kenzo Tange Chair at Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Louis Kahn Chair at Yale University in Fall 2011. She served as an external examiner at Cambridge University and The London Metropolitan School of Architecture. In addition to teaching, McNamara has lectured widely in European and American Schools of Architecture.

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