Níall's Lecture in Rome
November 2025
On the 7th November Níall will present a lecture in Rome entitled my Portfolio in Poems, as part of the conference Architecture and the Literary Imagination, organized by the American University of Rome and curated by Fabio Barry and Paul Gwynne.
The event, open to the entire DARC community, will be introduced by Maddalena Scimemi and is part of the program of courses in History of Contemporary Architecture for the Master of Science in Architectural Design, which for the occasion will be broadcast on unified channels (Channel I and Channel II). Link to the website can be found here.
a+u Feature on Somerville College Accommodation
May 2014
The Japanese journal a+u has published an account of the practice’s student accommodation for Somerville College, Oxford. The theme of this month’s publication is ‘New Landscapes of Wooden Architecture’ and features an international selection of projects that explore new aspects of wood technology and its potential within cities. The article gives a description on the themes and processes behind the project, placing it within the context of the historic university city and the surrounding Radcliffe Infirmary Quarter.
It is illustrated with working details of the bespoke timber glazing for the stair tower lanterns, as well as the prefabricated timber projecting bay window units for the student bedrooms, with their integral desk and bench seat overlooking the street.
‘We chose to make the glazed elements in the stair towers and student rooms in wood because we wanted them to be like warm lanterns, internally lit in the evening, bringing light to the narrow street…Wood allowed us to make more three-dimensional details…we owe a debt to Louis Kahn’s work at Philip Exeter Academy Library.’ NM