Architecture's top prize awarded to two Irish women for the first time

Yvonne Farrell (L) and Shelley McNamara pictured in 2018. They are the first female duo and first Irish citizens to win the Pritzker Prize in architecture. /AFP

Dublin-based architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara won the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2020, which was announced on Tuesday. They are the first female duo, and the first architects from Ireland to win the award.

The prize, often considered as the highest honor in architecture, is sponsored by Chicago's billionaire Pritzker family. Launched in 1979, it's been given annually to recognize contributions to humanity through the art of architecture ever since.

McNamara, 67, and Farrell, 68 have practiced together for over four decades. They first met at University College Dublin in 1974 and found their firm, Grafton Architects, in Dublin in 1978.

The pair "have consistently and unhesitatingly pursued the highest quality of architecture for the specific location in which it was to be built, the functions it would house and especially for the people who would inhabit and use their buildings and spaces," the jury's citation said.

In announcing their selection, the Pritzker jury cited Farrell and McNamara's "integrity" and "generosity towards their colleagues" – both continue to teach, rare for architects of their repute. /AFP

"Their approach to architecture is always honest, revealing an understanding of the processes of design and construction from large-scale structures to the smallest details," the citation added.

Meanwhile, the jury sharply pointed out that pioneers in the architecture field is still a "male-dominated profession" while the female duo pose as "beacons to other women as they forge their exemplary professional path."

Before them, only three women won Pritzkers: Zaha Hadid in 2004, Kazuyo Sejima in 2010 (with Ryue Nishizawa) and Carme Pigem in 2017 (with Ramon Vilalta and Rafael Aranda).

The pair said Ireland informed their focus on geography and shifts in climate, resulting in buildings that celebrate detail while remaining modest.

"What we try to do in our work is to be aware of the various levels of citizenship and try to find an architecture that deals with overlap, that heightens your relationship to one another," the Pritzker committee quoted Farrell as saying.

In 2008, Farrell and McNamara's celebrated Grafton Building at Milan's Bocconi University was named World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, a prize that thrust the pair onto the international stage.

(With inputs from AFP)