Sheila O’Donnell established O’Donnell + Tuomey with John Tuomey in 1988. She graduated from University College Dublin in 1976, when she moved to London. She has retained an involvement in the world of London architecture through teaching, external examining, exhibiting work, lecturing and as a member of the RIBA Awards group.
In recent years O’Donnell + Tuomey have been commissioned to make work in London, building the Photographers’ Gallery and LSE Student Centre and are now working on a new museum for the V&A and a dance theatre and academy for Sadler’s Wells.
She has been a lecturer in Architectural design in UCD since 1981 and a Professor since 2016. She has taught and lectured at schools of Architecture in Europe, Japan and the USA. She is an Honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 2015 she was joint recipient with John Tuomey of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Brunner Prize.
About Architects not Architecture
Founded in Hamburg in 2015, Architects, not Architecture. aims to bring to the stage what usually goes unseen. For each event they invite three well-known architects, who instead of talking about their award-winning international projects, are asked to talk about themselves. They speak about their path, their influences and experiences, and dive deeper into their intellectual biography. This enables a better understanding of their work, without them even mentioning it.
Most of us find it difficult to speak about the relevant experiences and the impact they had on us. But isn’t it the encounters, the unique experiences, the harsh times, the wild years at university, that one friend, teacher or family member that shaped our values and thus the person we are today? And isn’t it these values that influence how and what we create?
At least this is what Architects, not Architecture. (AnA) believes, which is why they created the event format that has expanded to multiple European cities over the past five years. Each architect is asked to talk about themselves and their individual path without mentioning their work. It is admittedly hard to do so in front of hundreds of unfamiliar faces when you are only used to talking about architecture in such a setting.
We are used to seeing talks about their work, now we will have the opportunity to get to know their architecture from a very different and personal perspective.
In recent years O’Donnell + Tuomey have been commissioned to make work in London, building the Photographers’ Gallery and LSE Student Centre and are now working on a new museum for the V&A and a dance theatre and academy for Sadler’s Wells.
She has been a lecturer in Architectural design in UCD since 1981 and a Professor since 2016. She has taught and lectured at schools of Architecture in Europe, Japan and the USA. She is an Honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 2015 she was joint recipient with John Tuomey of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Brunner Prize.
About Architects not Architecture
Founded in Hamburg in 2015, Architects, not Architecture. aims to bring to the stage what usually goes unseen. For each event they invite three well-known architects, who instead of talking about their award-winning international projects, are asked to talk about themselves. They speak about their path, their influences and experiences, and dive deeper into their intellectual biography. This enables a better understanding of their work, without them even mentioning it.
Most of us find it difficult to speak about the relevant experiences and the impact they had on us. But isn’t it the encounters, the unique experiences, the harsh times, the wild years at university, that one friend, teacher or family member that shaped our values and thus the person we are today? And isn’t it these values that influence how and what we create?
At least this is what Architects, not Architecture. (AnA) believes, which is why they created the event format that has expanded to multiple European cities over the past five years. Each architect is asked to talk about themselves and their individual path without mentioning their work. It is admittedly hard to do so in front of hundreds of unfamiliar faces when you are only used to talking about architecture in such a setting.
We are used to seeing talks about their work, now we will have the opportunity to get to know their architecture from a very different and personal perspective.
