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Irish architect Niall McCullough has passed away

2021-08-23T12:19:00-04:00

Sad news today as influential Irish architect Niall McCullough has passed away in his native Dublin following a battle with cancer.

The Irish Times is reporting that McCullough, who held teaching positions at several universities throughout Ireland and Europe, passed away on Friday following a prolonged battle with the disease.

Dubbed “a champion of urbanism,” McCullough was considered a leading figure in contemporary Irish architecture, spearheading the design of several buildings at Trinity College Dublin and other major civic and cultural projects across the island like the Waterford City Library and Dublin’s Temple Bar arts center.

After completing his studies at University College Dublin, McCullough went on to found McCullough Mulvin Architects alongside his partner Valerie Mulvin in 1986. His seminal work, co-authored by Mulvin, titled A lost tradition: The nature of architecture in Ireland is, alongside, Dublin: an Urban History considered to be one of the classic texts on co...

Selling residents on a water park during a drought

2015-08-18T12:40:00-04:00

Dublin is building a water park — in the middle of the worst drought in California’s modern history. [...] “It just looks bad, frankly ... It looks like we are out there thinking, ‘Let’s just go out there and build a water park,’ when the rest of the state is suffering.” [...] “Even if the drought weren’t to end,” said Lori Taylor, a spokeswoman for the city, “there will be a need for places where kids need to learn how to swim.”

Facebook hires architect Frank Gehry for Dublin, London offices

2013-11-07T15:19:00-05:00

Facebook is taking its friendship with Frank Gehry across the Atlantic, reportedly signing the Los Angeles architect to work on new office space in Dublin, Ireland, where the company already has a major presence. He will also design new office space for Facebook in London.

Previously: Facebook's positive experience with Gehry in California leads to commission to design new NYC office

In Ruined Apartments, Symbol of Ireland’s Fall

2012-09-03T16:22:00-04:00

Those residents, unable to move back into houses they still have to pay for, have spent nearly a year in legal limbo... More than 2,000 developments begun during that period have turned into “ghost estates,” ...Others, built under a system that allowed developers to “self-certify” — meaning that they could unilaterally declare, with only minimal government oversight, that their properties complied with building codes — are now falling apart, even while residents live there.

A look at how self-certification helped developers cut corners during Ireland's construction boom, leaving home-owners homeless and trapped in a legal bind.