Níall Giving The Keynote Lecture For FRAME 25 In Goa
September 2025
On the 2nd October Níall will be giving a keynote lecture as part of FRAME 25 in Goa. FRAME is instituted as an independent, biennial professional conclave on contemporary architecture in India curated by Matter and organised in partnership with Takshila Educational Society. The event will engage with the question of DRAWING as an act of authorship that is both reflective and projective. Over three days of films and lectures, the conclave will deliberate on the multiple and diverse approaches towards the one central idea at the core of creative practice: 'To Draw'.
Balliol Facade Trip
April 2017
We are working on new student residential buildings for Balliol College, Oxford. As part of the detailed design development we have been working with a façade sub-contractor based in Belgium, and recently made a visit to their manufacturing factories. The itinerary for the day – a design workshop, a factory tour and a review of samples. Lots of coffee after an early Eurostar, and a good lunch.
There had been several similar design workshops before; where gathered around the meeting table, sketches were scattered as we questioned the architectural intent and the construction details equally. Brick samples sat in front of us, books piled up with precedents opened, past project drawings and models pulled out for reference. How to compose the language to create a calm and unified façade across the site. The engineers, the architects, the craftsmen who will build the façade.
These sorts of discussion are an aspect of everyday practice, and incredibly valuable part of the process – marrying the conversations of design aspiration with the actual making of. The bricks and mortar that see the architecture delivered from the paper to the physical form.