Space for Architecture: The Work of O'Donnell + Tuomey

by Sheila O'Donnell, John Tuomey

Overview

Based in Dublin, Cork and London, O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects are revered for their work with urban design, public and private housing, and key educational and cultural buildings in Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK. In London they are best known for two major projects: the Photographers' Gallery and the London School of Economics Saw Swee Hock Student Centre. Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey, who both taught at UniversityCollege Dublin and lecture internationally, constantly look at the way in which different geographical, social and political influences have shaped their iconic works and approach to architecture generally. This book, which is a second edition following the success of the first edition published in 2014, is divided into eight sections, each dealing with a different aspect of the practice's concerns: Studio, Courtyards, The World Outside, London Times, Subtraction and Addition, Venice Excursions, Building Ground and Cat's Cradles. Somewhere between a monograph and a memoir, a studio portfolio and a personal scrapbook, this book describes some of the motivating ideas behind the architects' iconic designs. Nine short essays, alternately written by Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey, set the theoretical background for thirteen projects carried out between 1999-2014. Illustrations range from early stage concept sketches to specific photography that has been especially commissioned for the book, to evocatively capture the essence of O'Donnell and Tuomey's buildings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781908967473
Publisher:	Artifice Press
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 10.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey have worked together for more than 30 years. They pride themselves on being a studio-based practice, committed to the craft and culture of architecture, and approach each project with a fresh and open mind, Our buildings do not look the same; each is a specific response to its brief and its physical and social context. O'Donnell + Tuomey were both Professors at UniversityCollege Dublin where they taught for 40 years and still regularly teach and examine in schools in the US, UK and Europe, including Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge and the AA. They have exhibited six times in the Venice Biennale, and have received over 120 awards for their building worldwide. In 2015 they were awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for a lifetime's work. Previous publications from Artifice Press include Saw Swee Hock: The Realisation of The London School of Economics Student Centre, published in 2015.

Editorial Reviews

The book is a lovely thing. It is hard-backed, weighty, serious, with quality paper and print, well-set text, and carefully chosen fonts [...] The book consciously tries to capture and reflect the personality and preoccupations of the practice. It does so pretty well.

From the Publisher

The architecture of Sheila and John exudes the scent of the Finnish master architect (Alvar Aalto) in a new inspired way! Their buildings breathe new life into the sites where they are located, generating a new feeling for landscape, street, fragment of a city, or an old construction.

Elias Torres

In today’s architectural climate of uniform style, Sheila and John’s work is independent and refreshing, it inspires and amplifies the value original architecture can bring to society.

Peter Stutchbury

They [O' Donnell and Tuomey] speak in a timeless architectural language that makes us feel instinctively connected to our roots, to history and to the larger phenomenon of being.[They create] vital architecture that clearly carries the rich weight of history but always in a manner that is novel, interpreting the past while adding new layers of meaning.

Lene Tranberg

The appearance of a second edition of this marvelous book a few years after its first publication is hardly surprising. The questions it asks and the replies it gives resonate with primary cultural concerns of this historical moment, as well as architecture itself

David Leatherbarrow