丨O’Donnell + Tuomey

Irish Language Cultural Centre

Derry

Northern Ireland

The brief for Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin included performance and educational facilities, public and administrative services, for a contemporary Cultural Centre for Irish Language, Arts and Culture on a sensitive site in the historic centre of Derry.

The landlocked site is contained on three sides with one narrow end facing the street. The architectural strategy is to create a glass roofed courtyard at the centre of the scheme and to draw the public realm through an archway in the street frontage with the minimum sense of barrier between footpath and courtyard.

A continuous terrazzo floor connects the footpath to the building interior. The scheme starts from the central court, which is thought of as an outside room locked within the form. A board marked concrete trapezoidal courtyard is carved through the four floors of the building. Stairs, bridges and platforms cross and overlook the skylit volume, providing legible access to classrooms, offices, social and performance spaces.

Area: 2,000m2

Address: 37 Great James St, Londonderry BT48 7DF, UK

Client: Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin

GPS: 54°59’59.0"N 7°19’29.3"W

Competition: 2004

End Year: 2009

Category: Cultural Community Office Public Competition Winner Completed

Awards: The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award nomination; RIBA Stirling Prize finalist; RIBA Award; AAI Award (Special Award); World Architecture Festival - runner up in Civic and Community Category

Exhibitions: American Academy of Arts and Letters 2015 Awards: O’Donnell + Tuomey, Dublin, 29 Oct – 9 Nov 2015; The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2011 Exhibition - Chicago, Chicago, USA; New Irish Architecture – Rebuilding the Republic, Leuven, Belgium; The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2011 Exhibition - Vienna, Vienna, Austria; The Lives of Spaces, Venice, Italy

Related Media: Casabella Lecture, 01.12.2020; Rencontre avec O’Donnell + Tuomey, 06.11.2019; The Guardian: "Stirling prize 2011: a thrilling race through the shortlist"; RIBA Stirling Prize, 2011; The Lives of Spaces: Venice Biennale 2008

The street front is modelled as a three-dimensional composition in concrete and glass to give emphasis to the complexity and cultural content of the building. The building has been carefully designed to be sympathetically integrated with its urban conservation context and to be clearly legible as a significant cultural building within the architectural landmarks of the city.

Publications:

AV Monographs, 2016

L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, No. 409 Nov 2015, Portrait: O’Donnell + Tuomey, A la ville comme á la scéne / Life and Work PDF

Space for Architecture, 2014

Nevertheless, There is This Thing Called Architecture, 2013

Irish Architecture, The RIAI Annual Review, Vol. 2, RIAI, Sandra Andrea O’Connell (Editor)

Architectural Colour in the Professional Palette, Taylor & Francis, Fiona McLachlan PDF

The Telegraph, 29.09. 2011, Who will win gold now the celebrity architects have been left behind?, Stephen Bayley ↗︎

Architects’ Journal, 29.09. 2011, An Gaeláras by O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects, A definitive guide to the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist, Stephen Best PDF ↗︎

The Sunday Times, 14.08. 2011, Top drawer, Stephen Best ↗︎

The Irish Times, 13.08. 2011, Real austerity brings inclusivity, inspiration and invention, Fintan O’Toole PDF ↗︎

RIBA Journal, August 2011, The Stirling shortlist 2011, Dose of unpredictability needed, Hugh Pearman

The Irish Times, 21.07. 2011, Derry arts centre shortlisted for top UK award, Emma Cullinan PDF ↗︎

BD Magazine, 21.07. 2011, The Stirling shortlist favours the safe and generic, Oliver Wainwright PDF ↗︎

The Guardian, 21.07. 2011, Stirling Prize shortlist, Big names stop the judges in their tracks, Steve Rose ↗︎

The Guardian, 21.07. 2011, Stirling prize shortlist reflects new austerity in architecture, Robert Booth ↗︎

Architects’ Journal, 21.07. 2011, Stirling Prize: What the judges think, Richard Waite ↗︎

The Independent, 21.07. 2011, Olympic Velodrome leads race for gold medal in architecture, Jay Merrick ↗︎

Architects’ Journal, 21.07. 2011, Breaking News: RIBA Stirling Prize 2011 shortlist revealed, Richard Waite ↗︎

Lotus, No. 147 2011, New Urban Housing PDF ↗︎

Irish Architecture, The RIAI Annual Review, Vol. 1, RIAI, Sandra Andrea O’Connell (Editor)

C3, No. 307, March 2010 2010, Urban How > infill

Architecture Ireland, March 2010 2010, The building blocks of language

Aug 2 2010, Seven buildings in Ireland shortlisted for design awards

BD Magazine, Jan 8 2010, Historical translation, Shane O’Toole ↗︎

Architectural Review, Jan 10 2010, Cultúrlann Uí­ Chanáin, Mark Hackett PDF

Concrete Quarterly, March 2010 2010, As good as its words, Graham Bizley

Architectural Review, Oct 10 2010, An Gaeláras at the World Architecture Festival

Apr 22 2010, ‘O’Donnell + Tuomey do it again’, AAI Awards The Dubliner, ‘Design for Life’, AAI Awards, Geoff Power

Apr 27 2010, ‘Building on the future’, AAI Awards, Frank McDonald

New Irish Architecture 25, AAI Awards 2010

Concrete Elegance Five, David Bennett

Ways of Working, 2010

Perspective, Vol. 18, Nov/Dec 09 2009, Perspective, Vol. 18, Nov/Dec 09, ‘The times they are a changing…’, Mary Kerrigan PDF

Architecture Ireland, No. 241, October 08 2008, The Lives of Spaces: Review, 11th Venice Biennale, Declan Long PDF

Irish Arts Review, Vol.25 No.3 2008, Special Edition: Irish Architecture at the 11th Venice International Architecture Biennale, An Gaeláras PDF

The Lives of Spaces, An Gaeláras at the Venice Biennale