UCD Alumni Award in Engineering and Architecture 2025
October 2025
In October Níall was awarded with the UCD Alumni Award in Engineering and Architecture. The UCD Alumni Awards were established to honour the extraordinary accomplishments of the UCD alumni community. Since their inception in 2014, the Awards have recognised individuals who exemplify excellence and embody the values of UCD through their work and contributions to society. Each year, these honours spotlight alumni who have made a significant impact across a wide range of fields – including business, industry, healthcare, science, culture, sport, and the arts.
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