Shelley McNamara

Education

McNamara attended University College, Dublin (University College Dublin) in 1974.

Career

She is inspired by architects past and present including Eileen Gray, Flora Ruchat-Roncati, Lina Bo Bardi, Anna Heringer, Carme Pinos and Zaha Hadid. McNamara is the first architect to be included in Aosdána. Grafton Architects Together with Yvonne Farrell, McNamara established Grafton Architects in Dublin, Ireland in 1978.

Academia Shelley has worked as a studio lecturer at the School of Architecture in University College Dublin 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 University College Dublin. In addition to University College Dublin, McNamara has been a visiting professor at Accademia d’Archittettura, Oxford Books University, Accademia di Archittettura, Mendrisio (2008- 2010), Oslo, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 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.

Achievements

• "Bocconi Projects" in the Italian Pavilion, Venice Biennale ‘Next’, 2002. Dunshaughlin Civic Offices, Company Meath, Mies van der Rohe Award - European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, 2003. World Building of the Year Award, 2008 to Grafton Architects for the Universita Luigi Bocconi in Milan, Italy. "Universita Luigi Bocconi" nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2009. Universita Luigi Bocconi, Presidents Award, RAIA, 2009. Exhibited in the Irish Group Exhibition, The Lives of Spaces, Venice Biennale, 2010. "Architecture as New Geography", Silver Lion Award at the Venice Biennale Common Ground Exhibition, 2012. University of Limerick Medical School and Pergola Business Shelter, Shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize, 2013. University of Limerick Medical School, Student Residences, Piazza and Pergola, Royal Institute of British Architects European Award, 2013. "University of Limerick Campus" exhibited in the Sensing Spaces show at the Royal Academy. Shortlisted for the 2014 AJ Women in Architecture Awards, 2014. Fourth annual Jane Drew Prize, 2015.

Membership

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.