GAD / PERSON PROFILE
Shelley McNamara
Shelley McNamara studied at University College Dublin, where she met Yvonne Farrell and later taught.
Background & practice
Shelley McNamara studied at University College Dublin, where she met Yvonne Farrell and later taught. Together with colleagues they founded Grafton Architects in 1978, developing a practice whose projects include community schools, arts facilities, housing and university buildings. Her recollection of a childhood house accommodating a pharmacy and school illustrates an early interest in buildings' capacity to hold different lives. McNamara and Farrell shared the 2020 Pritzker Prize.
How to read the work
Read buildings through the activities and relationships they accommodate; carry observations from everyday places into design and into a parallel commitment to architectural teaching.
Co-founder explicitly named alongside Farrell; the award and practice history are collaborative.
Explore the cited original biography and portfolio for works; no unverified personal project association has been added here.
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