Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara win the Pritzker Prize 2020

The founding partners and directors of Grafton Architects, with offices in Dublin, Ireland, win the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2020. For the first time, a couple of women win the most important laureate for a living architect in the world.

Architects Farrell and McNamara established Grafton Architects in 1978, just a few years after graduated from the University College Dublin, where they were also professors since 1976. They have been professors in different universities around the world, such as Harvard, Yale, EPFL Lausanne and Accademia d’Archittettura in Mendrisio. They also were invited lecturers and jury in different schools in Europe and America.

In their long professional record, we can name some of their most important projects such as the Urban Institute of Ireland, the School of Economics of Université Toulouse, University Campus UTEC Lima, and the Universita Luigi Bocconi.

The members of the jury said: «For their integrity in their approach to both their buildings, as well as the way they conduct their practice, their belief in collaboration, their generosity towards their colleagues, especially as evidenced in such events as the 2018 Venice Biennale, their unceasing commitment to excellence in architecture, their responsible attitude toward the environment, their ability to be cosmopolitan while embracing the uniqueness of each place in which they work, for all these reasons and more, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize»

The jury of the Pritzker award 2020 was formed by the following professionals:

– Stephen Breyer, Chair
– André Aranha Corrêa do Lago
– Barry Bergdoll
– Deborah Berke
– Sejima Kazuyo
– Benedetta Tagliabue
– Wang Shu
– Martha Thorne, Executive Director

Here you can find the official announcement of the Pritzker Award 2020

The following is a compilation of the most relevant projects of these amazing architects.